Requiem for sorrow: To Live Is Not Enough
by The Disturbed Immortal
Summary: In the Ninja world, a small, thoughtless, childish mistake can have far-reaching and terrifying consequences. Haruno Sakura knew not what her actions during the retrieval mission would amount to, not for herself, but the fate and safety of the entire Shinobi world. The Ninja world will be brought to its knees by a monster not seen since the likes of Madara. Akatsuki fic!
1. Requiem for Sorrow

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or even the cover image, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and mario-reg.**

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**It's me, me who? Me uh…never mind, I'm just the guy who doesn't own Naruto. **

**Be mindful this chapter is not what it is or what you think it may be, e.g., the fixed ending of the story. It will not even have a bearing on the actual story. It is 'something' but not 'everything'. Get it? So do not jump to conclusions and go 'oh but why start with the ending' on me. If you don't happen to like it altogether, well...**

**Enjoy if you will. If you wish to you can merely skip it but it will not make much of a difference however. Its just one of those things you know. **

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●**Requiem for sorrow●**

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A large cloud of dust was picked up, large chips of debris falling in agonizing slow motions as darkness like no other hung overhead.

She stood starkly motionless, the falling slabs of ruffled and destroyed earth reflecting within her dazed orange orbs. Her gaze was honed in on the falling body of a blond young warrior, his spiky haired golden locks ruffling with slow splashing movements against his face, his once hard and weary eyes closed while a peaceful exterior rested on his face.

She just stood there, time seemingly lessened by a few factors for she dared not wish to believe her eyes were deceiving her or playing tricks on her. A short-lived heartbeat was drawn into a long thumping echo, her tense posture and eyes staring on with well found disbelief, a hint of fear and strangely enough, hope alit and burning wildly in them.

Utter sea of utter chaos surrounded her as gargantuan roots and the densest forestry encompassed them, while bonfires and stray remnants of Katon Njinjutsu slowly ate away at wood or charged remains of the deceased and the earth, whilst the phantom tone of angels reverberated across the wide battlefield as a sorrowful requiem hummed along with the darkened atmosphere and grumpy heavens. The smell of death was suffocating, and thousands upon thousands of prone bodies lay strewn across the ground, their numbers terrifying and staggeringly blood-curdling.

The blond man, clad in a long sparkling white cloak with red clouds, a high collar and a darkened interior with the Senju clan marking on his back, continued his descent to the ground, his ruffling hair alit with a bright glow that was in all truth, natural, while his body descended to the ground sedately as if being lowered down by some godly measure or gravity or countless hands of angels.

Just before he could meet the ground with a harsh impact, she moved, her badly torn, dark high collared cloak with red clouds a stark contrast from his own. Drawing her hands, she wound them around his badly bleeding and bruised form. He fixed her with a stare and did the most shocking thing she never expected of him, out of the belief that he was incapable of conjuring up something so humanely, he smiled. It was not the condescending smirk or vicious grin he would spot when relishing a battle or facing down an adversary, but a true heartfelt and glowing smile.

Her once cold heart melted at his smile, feeling her world light up. She caressed his cheek as he just stared up at her, almost as if disbelieving his own actions and forever lost in the bright twitch on his dry lips. "It's over, you did it." She hushed softly as she used her thumb to wipe the crimson stains off his whiskered cheeks.

"H-Heh, O-of course." He said with a hoarse voice, his sentences coming out haggard and broken.

She observed as his smile never faltered, his hand lifting to her own face with great effort, lightly brushing against her milky pale, soft cheek. She leaned into his weak touch, her eyes closing in contentment and sorrow of what was to come. His chest heaved as throat tearing wild coughs escaped his lips, blood splashing against the ground, creating wet patches of glistening red and causing her heart to sink even further as she felt his warm, yet weak touch slowly losing its strength and cooling with each beating second against her skin. She opened her eyes to stare at his young visage, not yet willing to believe the harsh fate he was bound to inevitably meet shortly.

His eyes were only just partly open, sharp azure blues that she could just drown in for endless days; staring up at her with warmth she had always thought him ineffective of mustering, but one which she now recognized belonged there. "I…" another wild fit of coughs disrupted his speech, while she inwardly remarked within the confines of her mind the clearly vulnerable look in his eyes, the sincerity carried in them just further elevating her sorrow. He stopped coughing, forcing and commanding his consciousness to hold on a little bit longer and resisting the will of the soul starved Shinigami through sheer willpower which did not surprise her in the slightest, and it was very much like him. "I'm s-sorry." He began, as his fingers kept brushing against her cheek while he fixed his glossy eyed, sorrowful gaze on her. "I-if….only I could stay longer I would do so…f-for y-your sakes." He gave a bittersweet smile as his eyes closed briefly. "However, m-my journey…ends h-here. My…m-my p-purpose is n-no ll-onger. I nn-ow…have to c-confront my sins a-and repent for my d-deeds."

She listened on entranced by his maturity and wisdom but yet with a heavy heart as he finally unfurled the tight clot of emotions, regret and guilt he withheld for an unhealthy number of years. She was glad to see this side of him, having only glimpsed at it on only a few occasions, intimate occasions that were, but there was just one thing missing. One small thing she wished to hear him admit, to hear him confess.

"I…I do…" he began simply before his hand slumped and his eyes closed as he uttered one final breath as death claimed him. "Love you, Konan." He finished.

Her heart soared with bittersweet happiness as acceptance welled within her heavy heart. She pulled his prone figure flush against her chest while she stared at the man with whom she had shared many memories, unpleasant and scarring ones that is, with. He was an enigma, who had taken her life and whirled it around. He was a student of hers, an enemy who, she had loathed with every fibre of her being and finally a lover. She never understood how it was that they came to be the latter, nor did she comprehend how it was he had commandeered complete anarchy and, tearing her friends' dreams apart ruthlessly and bringing the world to its knees, but he had. She supposed it was because of who he was; a person with the will and heart to accomplish whatever it was he wished. She slowly felt warm tears stinging the corners of her eyes at losing him, while she gripped his cool body tightly against her own and battling to keep the dam of tears from bursting. He had invaded her world, forced himself into her heart and now he had left her.

She glanced up as she felt countless thumping steps edging toward her direction. She didn't bother to look as her eyes immediately returned to the serene features of her deceased lover. She felt as a feminine shadow loomed over her knelt form, before a hand clasped on her shoulder tightly and comfortingly and she looked up with some small amount of surprise to meet the figure of a light-skinned, blonde haired woman with a robust figure and enviable chest regarding her with a solemn and teary brown-eyed stare.

"He's gone…" Konan muttered absently with a blank tone, her voice displaying her uncertainty and denial of that simple fact. Tsunade nodded as she looked at Naruto's motionless figure within Konan's hands, a lone tear trailing down her cheek.

Behind the two women stood a mass of men and women in torn and scarred Shinobi clothing, nearing thousands in numbers who all fell to their knees in the sign of allegiance. "Senju-sama." They all proclaimed loudly, their heads bowed unbelievably low as they faced the ground. Konan knew to whom they were referring to, not the blond woman beside her knelt figure, but herself. It was his name and unofficially hers. He had left her with a daunting task and for that she cursed him. She blinked the tears away as she patted Tsunade's hand to assure her she felt better before she drew on a regal posture. Resting Naruto's head against the ground lightly and gazing at him one last time, she shifted her gaze to the masses of Shinobi all on their knees.

She recognized that this was it, the long awaited moment of truth. _They_ all had done it their duty and now it was time for her to play her part, as the final student of Jiraiya. Her sibling students were children of prophecy, destined to save the world from itself. They were not the ones who would lead it into a prosperous free world however, she was.

It had always been her it seemed, and Naruto recognized that.

Her eyes hardened like the toughest steel as she levelled the thousands of Shinobi forces with a stern gaze, the present morphing into the impending future within her mind, a future paved by the hands of their friends.

"I declare the fourth Shinobi world war officially over."


	2. Prologue: The End of Team 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it's not mine.**

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**This chapter will feature my take on various things like reincarnation, and I just wish to let you know that the battle at the final valley would be written differently within this story to accommodate changes which I have made.**

**Alright enough pleasantries, let's jump right to it… **

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"**Yeah, bringing you another disturbing creation from the mind of one sick animal who can't tell the difference and gets stupefied." Disturbed **

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●**Prologue: The end of team 7●**

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●**Valley of End**

**(Time-skip -Events overlap) **

The valley of the end, the famous and reputed battleground where titans do battle, where legends were made and history was written or left behind by the marks of destruction these mere individuals left in their wake. This historic venue held a great deal of significance for the people of Hi no Kuni and it was an exalted venue and monument for it served as a reminder of the great battle for Konohagakure no Sato between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. The valley also served as a border between Hi no Kuni and Otogakure no Kuni, formerly known as Ta no Kuni. The valley, ever so serene and free of scars of battle for almost a century now was witnessing and being subject to yet another intense battle of wills, a battle between teammates, friends, rivals and brothers in all but blood.

Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi no Yoko and Sasuke Uchiha.

This valley had been a mere landscape with a lake trespassing through the lush green forests until two men, their strength revered as god-like along with a magnanimous beast of mass hatred had come and left the place as a heap of mess, their battle leaving an unimaginable scar across the earth that served as the base of formation of the valley. It had a waterfall flowing down with two gigantic statues of two men in samurai-esque armour holding their hands in a single Ram hand seal and their other hand on their sword sheaths. These were the unwilling creators of the valley, those whose battle gave birth to the place. The pounding sound of the water echoed throughout the area, drowning out any other sound and rendering them inaudible to the ear. The cascading deluge of water fell between the statues of the two founders of Konoha with pounding force.

The name does the iconic venue justice, as it said, this was where conflicting titans battle for the final time, where one would emerge victorious and history would be written for the victor and the loser would befallen by oblivion and fade away into history.

The parallels between the fight then and the fight now are quite staggering and astonishing, considering that it had been an almost similar situation all those decades ago when Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara clashed in the valley, a then merely flat landscape with their battle forever deciding the path they would take in each of their respective careers. Now another generation of Ninjas fought to the death, one to prevent one from escaping the village and being labelled a missing nin/Nuke-nin and the other to stop the other from slowing him down and taking him back.

If only they knew this battle would do more than destroy their friendship for another, this intense battle would shape the very history to come of the elemental nations. This battle would change their lives and the cause of history forever.

Sasuke clutched at his left wrist as he glowered at the visage of his now feral looking teammate. Water raged wildly around the two of them as a red haze of Chakra flared out of Naruto like a tornado. Sasuke didn't want to say he felt uneasiness at the feeling of the power the blond was channelling but he knew that that would be lying horribly. He felt a great deal of it and jealousy too, marked with curiosity and anger. Sasuke could feel the vile heat radiating from Naruto's Chakra and washing against him like the exhalation of a baleful spirit. The entire valley felt as if it was on fire and breathing was becoming more and more of an intense exercise.

"**SASUKEEEE!" **The orange clad Genin growled out, his voice a few shades deeper, signifying the influence of his tenant. **"IM NOT LETTING YOU LEAVE YOU HEAR ME?"** the flushing sound of water echoed throughout the valley as the blonde's power seemed to produce wide ripples atop the water and caused waves of water to rise up as a swirling wind lashed out of the blond, blowing all around them. Naruto looked greatly ruffled up, with a large hole on his chest. His blond hair stood at attention, messier and spikier than ever before with a wild touch to it. Thick darkened markings scarred his cheeks like the whisker marks of some primal predator, with sharp fangs protruding from his lips dangerously. Naruto crossed his clawed hands in front of him, his predatory red-eyed gaze still piercing through the raven-head Uchiha's own red orbs. **"EVEN IF IT MEANS BREAKING EVERY SINGLE BONE IN YOUR BODY TO DO SO, I WON'T…LET YOU LEAVE!"**

The Uchiha grunted from where he stood atop the surface of the water after Naruto's strange attack prior to hitting him with a Chidori to his chest. Sasuke found himself greatly disturbed by the malevolent Chakra circulating his blond teammate. Water exploded seamlessly around the blond, sending long waves crashing to the sides of the two steep hills surrounding the valley and earth rumbling noises ringing throughout the valley, shaking the two statues standing on opposite poles of each other.

Sasuke covered his eyes with his hands as the continuous surge of power radiating off of his teammate produced raging waves of water and a blinding light to fill his eyes. He watched and marvelled at how Naruto's physical appearance had seemingly changed, with his canines, nails lengthened and his eyes a bloody red colour with an animalistic slit. Those eyes were by all means frightening and paralyzing and Sasuke felt like he was a prey being looked upon by a merciless predator. _'Where is he getting all this power? What about_ _that evil red Chakra?_' He thought through gritted teeth as he stared at the hunched blond. _'Is he some kind of monster?' _Sasuke thought angrily.

The Uchiha glared with anger marring his visage, "I've had just about enough. What the hell are you?" Sasuke didn't wish to admit it, but Naruto sometimes unnerved him. There was something very dark about Naruto that he believed only he was the one member in team seven who could see it. There was a lingering darkness taking refuge within the blond idiot; one which would manifest on rare occasions, particularly moments when he was in deep thought. To Sasuke, Naruto was an even bigger walking time bomb than he was and Sasuke just instinctively knew that a dark Naruto would spell danger, no matter how strange and ludicrous that thought sounded. Sasuke didn't know how strong Naruto could actually get if he put his head into it get but seeing him now here while he peered through him with those eyes, he knew that Naruto could kill him easily if he wished to. It suddenly made sense now and he knew deep down himself that his constant putting downs of Naruto were inspired by his own insecurity and jealousy. Thus, always reminding Naruto that he was far below himself served to restore that Uchiha pride he had lost on numerous occasions and the languid doubt he had in himself, of being able to kill Itachi.

"**I'm your friend and I will do whatever it takes to prevent you from going** **to Orochimaru AND I'LL BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY** **IF I HAVE TO**." The Uchiha's eyes widened as Naruto reared his fist back and then he found himself flying backwards as a shockwave of air erupted from Naruto's fist, parting the water and sweeping Sasuke off his feet, sending him careening back with the force of an object hit by a train.

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**(Earlier on) **

A young girl peeking into her teens with bright pink hair, large green eyes and clad in a short-sleeved red wear with white circular designs jumped through trees hastily as she attempted to get to her destination before it was too late.

Sakura felt tired, the constant demand of keeping up with such high speed movement obviously taxing on her impoverished Chakra reserves. Her green eyes were fierce though as they were focused ahead, seemingly filled with a burning desire to get somewhere and to accomplish something.

The black haired boy clad in green spandex with orange leg warmers who hopped alongside her kept sending concerned glances toward her from the corner of his eyes.

Sakura hopped from tree to tree with an intent filled look in her forest green eyes. She had snuck out of Konoha after Naruto and the squad to retrieve Sasuke. She had realised that she had always dragged the two down, always complaining about Naruto doing this and never focusing too much on her own growth. Sasuke had left, or rather was currently in the process of attempting to leave and she was too weak to stop him when the opportunity presented itself. She had shamelessly proclaimed her undying love for him and despite that, it hadn't been enough.

He had left and Naruto again was relegated to the duty of slapping some sense into him as he had done in the forest of death during the Chuunin exams when Orochimaru ambushed them. Looking back to that, she realised she had been useless as usual and had merely watched as Naruto had to fight for all of them. She had told herself that she had grown somewhat but it hadn't been enough. She had mistreated Naruto, always treating him like an annoyance and not trying to see past his actions because she was too focused on Sasuke, but now she was going to give that blond idiot a chance.

She had selfishly made Naruto, whom she knew would give the world for her promise to bring their defected teammate Sasuke 'back to her'. Although she had tried to convince herself Naruto was content with her request, deep down she was aware he obviously wasn't. She had seen it in the way he smiled at her back at the village gate. It was in the way his lips had awkwardly curved into a bright smile as he flashed his bright smile with his eyes squinted shut. In that instance, she felt like she had unravelled one aspect of the growing puzzle that was Naruto Uzumaki and for the first time in her life she had finally saw through it all, that fake smile that he plastered on his face to convince others he was alright and it made her sick how much she had hurt him. She had been too immersed on and moping about Sasuke that she didn't even consider Naruto's feelings at all, and as usual he was relegated to last on her priority list but no more.

'_It's always been him huh?' S_he thought mid-jump with her hair whipping back from the wind. _'Back during the invasion, he stopped Gaara and I thought it was Sasuke. Heh, I'm pitiful'_ she thought to herself with her eyes sagged in sadness.

'_But no more, if we're doing this we are going to do it together, as team 7. I won't sit by and let you go through with this alone anymore Naruto'_ A confident, hopeful smile blossomed upon her lips. _'We'll stop Sasuke-kun together, the three of us…we're team 7'_ with her determination stoked, she added more Chakra to her feet as she increased her pace.

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●**Konohagakure no Sato, Hokage Tower**

**(Earlier On)**

"Are you trying to tell me you sent a team of Genin on an S-rank mission?" Kakashi asked with a voice saturated with shock as he stood before Tsunade, his hands on her desk while he regarded her with a look of utter astonishment and disbelief.

Tsunade struggled to repress the urge to sigh as she kept her straight poker face while staring at the silver-haired Jounin with a calmed demeanour, her ample bosom pressed against the desk enveloping her form. "My hand was forced. With the state the village is currently in, I had no choice but to do it. One can never be sure of when another village might launch an attack on us and for that I need my best Ninja here in the village." She reasoned composedly, her hands in front of her shapely face with her fingers interlocked.

Kakashi's shoulders sagged as he couldn't resist the urge to sigh in defeat. "Besides, I sent them some backup from Suna." She added as an afterthought but it didn't seem to lull the worry in the silver-haired man. Kakashi just stared at the ground, his eyes taking on a strange appearance that Tsunade couldn't decipher before without further warning he swivelled on his toes and headed for the door.

"Kakashi wait..." The man stopped near the door to regard the blond over his shoulder. "There's also one small problem…" the woman trailed off at the end as she gazed at the man who was regarding her with a somewhat impatient stare.

"What is it?" Kakashi queried with a strained calmness in his voice, though Tsunade could tell that there was sense of urgency within his tone that one would only have out of concern. It was a look she recognized very well from her Genin days with her own mentor and village leader predecessor, Sarutobi-sensei.

Tsunade didn't know how to broach the subject, as she dislodged her hands and dropped her serious and calm posture. "Your other student…" she trailed off at the end. Originally she had a mission for Jounin but she figured that could wait seeing the worry on the man's face.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in understandable confusion, "Sakura?" He asked as he stood before the door with his back to it while he faced the blond Senju.

The blond nodded her head as she proceeded to continue. "She's missing." Tsunade didn't need to look at the man to see the sudden look of alarm upon his face; the deafening silence was proof enough of that fact. "The only plausible explanation is that she sneaked out with Rock lee. Either she followed him out or convinced him to take her with him."

Kakashi didn't respond to the blond as he exited the office, standing outside he looked up into the sky. He had this strange sense of foreboding within him, a tight knot weighing down in his stomach that something terrible was about to go down and he felt great worry over the safety of his currently unstable Genin squad. _'Sakura, of all the times you could have chosen. Why now, what are you thinking?'_

The man feared for his pink haired female student. He remembered that the last time Naruto and Sasuke had slugged it out was before her very eyes and he knew how hurt she had been. The tension between Sasuke and Naruto was slowly driving a wedge between the team and Sakura felt left out of it all. Had it been a few months ago he knew she would surely choose Sasuke's reasoning over Naruto's but she seemed to have started seeing the world beyond Sasuke, well to a small extent but it was an improvement regardless. She had also started to appreciate Naruto as a teammate and as such, his conflict with Sasuke would undoubtedly destroy the image she had of a _perfect _team 7.

The man knew he had to be hasty if he was to get to them before anything bad could happen and he certainly hoped to the gods above that Sakura doesn't get in between those two or else he shuddered to think what would happen, considering that the last time she failed to stop them, with his timely intervention proving to be what prevented them from killing each other. This time if they were to go at it without any outside disruption, then was certain he would be bringing one student home in a body bag. It would be unfortunate but it was the reality of the world which they resided in. Shrugging away the cloud of dark, unhealthy thoughts, Kakashi brought his hands together as he ran through the summoning hand seals before slamming his hands on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A seal matrix spread from his palms and in a puff of smoke, a pack of eight hounds appeared before him, barking wildly as the smoke cleared, "Alright, I want you all to scatter and trace Sasuke and Naruto's scent and also try to follow Sakura's as well."

"All of your students? What is going on here Kakashi?" a small brown Ninken atop the head of a big black bulldog asked as it regarded their silver-haired summoner with a sharp yet lazy stare in its eyes.

Kakashi rubbed his chin while his lone eyes narrowed, "I'll explain later. Right now there's no time to waste." They all barked acknowledgement and in comprehension at seeing the man's tense and urgent posture. "Let me know as soon as you pick up their scent." Kakashi said to which they gave concurring nods of their heads.

"Alright, scatter!" he commanded.

With their orders in mind, they all blurred away with abnormal speed as they vanished to begin their assigned duties. Kakashi stared a while longer at nothing of particular interest with a distance-filled glint in his eye. _'Just what are you thinking, Sakura?' _the Silver-haired Jonin thought again in great worry.

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Rock lee felt a nagging feeling in the back of his head repeatedly telling him something bad lay ahead. He had been ordered to go provide back-up to the retrieval team after his treatment and surgery by the Hokage had been a success.

He stole a glance at the girl as she struggled through her exhaustion to keep up with the pace he was setting. Of course he wasn't going at his top speed but he was impressed she had managed to last this long. Her face held a clear look of determination as they moved and navigated through the dense forest. Throughout their journey the elder Genin had a sense of foreboding which just churned through his system in long agonizing waves of queasiness that he couldn't quite shrug off. He knew that she should not be here with him, but who was he to deny someone burning with a blazing desire to save their teammates? What would Gai-sensei say? In the end the green clad Genin just hoped he had made the right decision, for both their sakes.

Sakura fought the overwhelming waves of searing exhaustion as she sprung and leapt from tree branch to tree branch. At times like these, she truly wished she had taken Kakashi's endurance training and her duties as a Kunoichi seriously because now those skills were needed of her and she barely had enough to scrape through. She had invested all of her efforts into impressing Sasuke so much that she neglected her Shinobi career and duty, even after having a scathing wakeup call during the mission to Nami no Kuni. She still had not changed much, save for the few instances or two where she would show brief glimpses of growth, like in the forest where even to her eye, she knew she had been very poor and had nearly fallen apart when her team needed her the most.

Naruto and Sasuke had always been the ones who did most of the work, but especially Naruto. He had been the one to devise a plan that ensured that they survived on their very first C-rank mission turned A-rank, and he had also been the one to defeat Haku and recently Gaara in order to save her and like the blind, love sick puppy she was she had thought it could only be Sasuke. Was she always so stereotypical and judgemental of Naruto? She knew that she always held Sasuke on a high pedestal but now she wasn't sure whether or not he was worth all the hurt because come to think of it, he always rejected her just as badly as how she rejected Naruto and she rebounded on Naruto. Just the feeling of feeling wanted by Naruto was enough to make her feel slightly better about herself but still she took things too far with her berating of him when all he was trying to do was help her. Sasuke paid more attention to Naruto, that was one thing she had always known since the formation of team seven and it had only grown after the mission to Nami and she had never understood it until Sasuke grew colder and finally challenged Naruto.

That had been the start of the tension that blossomed between the two. Sasuke also put Naruto down because he felt insecure and threatened of him and his growth. Now, it had come to this. The battle on the roof of the hospital had left her disillusioned of the growing hatred within her crush and of the fact that he was capable of killing to get to his goal. She just knew she had to stop both of them, unlike the last time where she could only scream helplessly she couldn't sit around and let the two kill each other as they had nearly done so the last time. She would show them she was a part of their team and that they also needed her as well.

Naruto also couldn't do everything alone; she had seen it in his eyes. The crushing burden she had placed on him, the promise he had made had cast a haunting look in his eyes and he had been hurt by how far she would go for the raven-Haired Uchiha. Regardless of the fact that he also crushed on her he had agreed to it. Even though she had finally been able to see past his smile and glimpsed at the level of hurt that had been in his voice, which she was sure everyone else had missed. Naruto was hurting…

Had she always taken the blond for granted, demeaning his self-worth for only when it befitted her? Did she truly have no regard toward Naruto that she was naturally incapable of seeing his worth or even consider that he was human as well? Naruto may have been a hyperactive idiot but he was still a person with feelings too, feelings which he kept buried and sealed within his heart and the only way to glimpse into his being was to bypass the deceiving smile on his face. This is why she wanted to change, no more childish fantasies, no more thoughts about team seven only being a means to be with Sasuke while treating Naruto and Kakashi as annoyances that stood in the way of that dream.

For now she ran, pushing herself far past her natural limits in order to get to her teammates. Worry was clearly visible on her fair skin face but in her heart her resolve was of the hardest steel. Now wasn't the time to be weak and indecisive, she remarked within her head. She had promised to take charge and that was exactly what she was going to do. She just hoped she would get there in time, not to see the corpse of one of her teammates but to bring them both back to the village.

'_Naruto, Sasuke, just hold on," _She thought as she took another determined high leap onto the next tree_, "I'm coming.'_

After a few more agonizing minutes of constant sprinting, Sakura was somewhat surprised but inwardly relieved when she saw the boy before her call for a stop. She had begun feeling the heat building up within her muscles with every twitch of her legs from the tiresome running as she had to channel more Chakra in order to somehow keep up with Rock Lee. "Let's stop here Sakura-san. We will take a short break." Lee said as he looked back toward her, seemingly fresh as when they left the village. His breathing was normal and he was displaying no outward signs of exertion, with the only thing to prove he had been running being the small singular bead trailing down the left side of his face.

Sakura plopped to her knees, scooting herself toward a tree before balancing against it with her back while her loud breathing was at its climax as she gave short huffs and puffs of air. She strained her head up to look at the black-haired Genin standing a few metres from her, "You can go ahead without me from here Lee-san. I will be fine." She said simply with her laboured breathing dropping by the second. She didn't wish to hold Rock Lee back and his mission was to provide support in combat to the retrieval team. Her self-employed mission was to help her team, which was why she didn't want to delay Lee's mission.

"Are you sure you will be alright?" the green clad Genin queried with obvious concern in his voice, which brought an appreciative smile from the pink-haired Kunoichi.

"Hai and I will take one of these." She said as she produced a soldier pill bottle and showed it to the black-haired boy who merely nodded with understanding.

The boy with the rather large eyebrows smiled as he flashed a blinding grin, assuming his nice guy pose with his thumbs up to her, "Alright then, good luck Sakura-san. I hope you can succeed in helping Naruto-kun bring back Sasuke." He said exuberantly as he began treading away from her with backwards steps while the Kunoichi took a short reprieve from the exerting and constant running they had done for almost a day. Sakura merely nodded politely while she balanced herself against the tree, her haggard breathing having calmed considerably.

"I certainly will." She said with a look full of spades of determination, which the team 9 Genin reciprocated with a calm yet sturdy nod. Sakura watched as the bowl-cut style haired boy took off, going at full speed at speeds which she found nigh impossible and disorientating to attempt to trace, everything else seeming to move in very slow motion while he blurred through the forest.

Sakura smiled at the exuberant Genin, being reminded of a certain blond knuckleheaded teammate of hers. She had at first found it very hard to believe how strong Rock Lee was, considering his looks, but now she knew very well that looks could be deceiving. She had thought the same about Naruto and he had gone on to beat Neji Hyuuga in the Chuunin exams, much to the entire stadium's shock and momentarily hers too. While a part of her considered Naruto to be the reason behind Sasuke leaving, even though the latter blond didn't know it, she knew that Naruto shouldn't be held at fault for Sasuke's own desires and lust for power.

She looked up into the sky, taking a relatively long inhalation of fresh murky nature with her nostrils as if it were her last, before she gulped down one soldier pill. She stood up, feeling her Chakra flare up within her, almost as if a previously damp peacock was unfurling its bright wings within her. Energy filled up her being and Sakura briefly toyed with the idea of feeling invincible as the feeling the Food pill brought her made her think she somehow was. She took one last deep breath of oxygen as she looked all around her to check for enemy presences. Feeling her paranoia somewhat sated and cured as she couldn't sense any presences within her range, she took off in a dust-trail inducing run with her objective in mind.

* * *

●**Hokage Tower●**

**(Current Time) **

A young black haired woman with chin length black hair, and clad in a white trimmed, black Kimono which went to her knees and high heels. Shizune walked into Tsunade's office carrying large stacks of paperwork. Her appearance was somewhat lost to the other woman who didn't even regard her as she walked into the room. She had a far-off stare in her eyes as she stared out of the glass window and into the outside skies.

Tsunade turned around in her chair as she heard a loud clearing of the throat from behind her, "Are you alright Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade blinked up at Shizune before with a sigh a haunted look appeared within her orange orbs.

Shizune was surprised to see the blonde woman somewhat in a subdued and worry-filled mood and she instantly became worried. "Shizune, I've been feeling something off about today. Even before I sent Naruto and the others on the retrieval mission, I've been filled with this strange feeling of foreboding," she said as she brought her hand up to her forehead to rub at her fair skinned temples before she gave a dry chuckle. "Heh, I must be getting old, damn that brat for making me take this job."

Shizune just gave a kindly yet understanding smile as she stood over the seated blonde Hokage, "You must be overthinking things again. It must be the stress of the paperwork…you need a break." She said while nodding her head at her logic.

Tsunade seemed to think otherwise though as she just started digging into her drawer before looking at her secretary and trusted friend. Shizune sighed as she knew what would come out of the woman's mouth next, "I need sake Shizune, bring me my sake." She said with a soft frown on her brows.

Shizune stared hard at the blonde, contemplating whether to follow up on her request or not, but seeing the absent look on her eyes as she went back to gazing at nothing, she sighed as she knew that the blonde had to be feeling stress of some sort. It was also the same look she got when she thought something bad was to happen and Shizune knew she could break down without something to calm her down and with the current state of the village, that would be disastrous.

"Alright then," the black haired secretary said with a solemn tone in her voice. Tsunade didn't even seem excited by her relenting or at the news of having a glass or two to drink. She just seemed far-off and lost in her musings. Shizune exited the office, before a few minutes later she returned with a full bottle and a small glass which she put before the blond.

Just as Tsunade tried to open the lid, the bottle shattered and fell to the ground as if in a sign of a clear bad omen. Tsunade's eyes just narrowed and Shizune's as well. Strangely enough she didn't complain about the fallen bottle or request a new one, she just seemed so lost to the world that it bothered Shizune greatly. _'What is this feeling? What does this all mean?'_ Tsunade thought worriedly as she stared at the tiny shards of glass bottle mixed with flowing alcohol, her own reflection staring absently at her from the mirror of the broken glass.

As soon as Kakashi had left she had been experiencing bouts of uneasiness. She had begun questioning whether she had made the right choice sending an inexperienced team of Genin led by a fresh Chuunin on a potentially and prospectively dangerous mission that was bound to include conflict and battle if the team was to secure Sasuke and knowing Orochimaru she knew he had to have sent the very best and also had a sort of contingency plan in wait should everything not go according to plan. Suddenly she felt very foolish, what exactly had she been thinking? Certainly she knew they wouldn't return in one piece but had she taken their lives for granted so much as to not consider the consequences of her actions, death was a likely outcome, even with the help of the team from Suna. What would her sensei have done had he still been Hokage? One thing was for sure and that was he wouldn't have sent kids on a mission this serious, after all the young generation mattered more to him than anything else but what had she done? She had gone and sent inexperienced Ninja on a very grave mission.

Suddenly a wave of light-headedness washed over her as she felt her mind scattering to thousand pieces. Her hand trembled as fear gripped her heart. What would happen should they all die? What about Naruto? He was the village's Jinchuuriki and most importantly Jiraiya's godson and apprentice, as well as someone she held very dear to her heart. He was like a little brother to her and she didn't know what would happen should he die. She certainly knew that she might die herself should that thought come true. Worry was a constant for her these days it seemed. What with worrying over her idiotic teammate and now an idiotic loud brat. It seemed being her was simply a bundle of worry as of late. She sometimes missed the days when she would carelessly get wasted without any worry of waking up tomorrow to the loud sounds of 'I'm gonna be Hokage' or 'Baa-chan', 'wake up old hag' or even 'Hokage-sama' and anything Naruto related. She loved the brat but he was just a handful, but she figured her life would be dull and without him in it, also considering what she had discovered.

Ultimately she sighed as she struggled to get her hand back in control, barely managing to restrict the shivers that ran down it as she gazed outside into the blue skies above the village. Her thoughts were on only one person, _'I hope you come back safely brat, because there's still something I need to tell you.' _She thought as she pulled her drawer open, while instead of being greeted with the heavenly sight of her sake bottle, her eyes beheld a document which lay atop the messy pile of papers inside her drawer. Upon closer inspection one could see that it was a picture, bearing the regal visage of fair-skinned, beautiful woman with long flaming red hair and innocent purple eyes, her face alit with a heart-warming smile that stretched her light pink cheeks. Tsunade's brown-eyed gaze lingered on it with a brow splitting frown, her mind and heart becoming pregnant with emotion and wistfulness.

'_Kushina…'_

* * *

●**Summoning Realm, Myobokuzan**

Tightly squinted wrinkled eyelids fluttered open as abject shock quickly crept into them. The black bar-like pupil of the creature's serenely squinted yellow eyes was barely visible, but from the slightest shade visible, the unease written within them was clear for all with a good eye to see.

The elder toad of Mount Myouboku breathed out deeply and in a forced manner as the vision he had just foreseen slowly seeped back into the depths of his scattered memory but unlike many, it just stayed there and he couldn't forget it easily. Red…

That was all he had seen, a sickening red liquid flowing in rivers, streams, oceans, with bones crushed all under the foot of a young man. Nature surrounded him from all sides, monstrous, towering blooming trees hanging over him and the world. There was not a sight of mankind, but simply blood, a veil of smoke and bones, human bones.

Gamamura's visible eyes were wide with something akin to fear and a deep sorrow, with a cough, the elder toad forced himself to his feet a feat remarkable in itself considering his immemorial age. All the toad inhabitants of Myobokuzan got a great shock at seeing the great toad sage and the elder to all the toad clan's members on his feet, his usually smiling face held in a very troubled expression and the heavy wrinkles on his face seemingly deeper and longer. Gamamura just kept to his business, shuffling his feet against the ground and dragging them due to the effort it took on his part.

"Great elder Gamamura, you should not be straining yourself like this." A random medium sized toad said as in passing.

Gamamura barely heard the statement from the purple toad as he just stared ahead with his partly visible eyes glinting with worry and concern, for the storm was looming and darkness was engulfing the world slowly. What had been light, had found comfort in the darkness, and in the darkened Shinobi world, that was a very dangerous combination. A black storm carrying death was brewing, and humanity was not ready for it.

The tassels of Gamamura's black hat fluttered as a cold chill washed over him but he seemed numbed to the feeling, _'Hmmm, this is not good. The prophecy…has taken a dark path.' _He thought to himself as various images, memories of a young man with rippled purple eyes standing before him as he foretold him of the impending prophecy of a blue-eyed child who will change the world and unite the Bijuu. Oh how wrong had he been, he had gotten it all wrong and Jiraiya had fallen to his prophetic error.

'_What this means for this world, one can only claim to fathom…' _

* * *

●**Valley of End**

Naruto glanced up to see a blazing torrent of fire flying toward him, its heat making the hairs on his skin stand on in attention or was it alarm? Nevertheless, the blond rolled out of the way, before he made another roll as a high foot came crashing just where he had been, parting the water and creating a wide splash of water. Naruto spun on the off of his shoulder blades as he forced himself into a leap before sending a kick at the raven-haired Uchiha who easily caught it, his three tomoe eyes capturing every twitch of the muscles that the blond made and allowing him to react accordingly as he had been unable to earlier with the blond being too fast for him after his strange power boost.

Sasuke twisted Naruto on his foot but the blond used that to his advantage as with great agility he smacked a heel into the Uchiha's chin, causing Sasuke to bite down on his tongue hard. Sasuke jumped back with a hand to his cheek nursing the bruising pain, but Naruto followed after him. The Uchiha frowned at his teammate, unable to comprehend how he still managed to sock him even with his evolved and fully matured Sharingan. Naruto brought his hands into a cross handseal as he ran toward the Uchiha with a stern look in his eyes, a puff of smoke alerted him to the successful creation of the clone before it grabbed him by the shoulders, twisting him once in a circle before with great strength, it set him loose like a missile, sending him flying toward Sasuke with speed even his mature Sharingan could hardly trace.

Naruto reared his fist back as within mere seconds he was before Sasuke whose eyes could only widen before a hard fist met his face with a shock-wave inducing punch. Sasuke felt his jaw dislodging from the force of the blonde's punch, before he shot off like a fired projectile, flying through the air before he came to a rough collision with the vertical surface of the hill. He slumped against the hard wall behind him before he opened his eyes to find Naruto before him, his feral visage boring into him.

Naruto grabbed the Uchiha by his collar before flinging him up toward the top of the hill-top, following against him in a run as he blurred in a run on the vertical surface of the hill and pursuing against his target. Sasuke felt the air rush up against his chest and forcing itself into his noses from how hard Naruto had flung him, he looked down to see Naruto flying toward him. Commanding his body through sheer willpower, he ran through handseals before he grinned maniacally as his trajectory meant his technique would be faster.

Stopping on the tiger handseal, Sasuke's chest heaved up, "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" with a loud yell, Sasuke spewed out a long torrent of fire, the flames forming a beeline as they charged straight toward Naruto. The flames danced as they licked down the vertical surface of the valley while flying straight for Naruto. The technique roared with the sounds of a wild inferno, descending toward Naruto at incomprehensible speeds.

Knowing dodging would be nigh impossible, Naruto instinctually drew in a long gout of air, his nose flaring widely. Sasuke smirked as he saw his flames about to engulf Naruto, "It's over…" he muttered arrogantly only for his eyes to widen when Naruto opened his mouth and let out a wild roar. An intense shockwave of air split apart Sasuke's technique like it were made of butter, turning some of the flames in the opposite direction as they rebounded back toward the Uchiha who was sticking to the hill's vertical surface using Chakra.

Sasuke's eyes widened at seeing Naruto's shockwave flying toward him, having never encountered such a technique before, the Uchiha was rendered defenceless as even with the infusion of chakra to his feet, he was blown away like a weightless fly by the unnamed technique, before he came back to the ground on the hill-top with a loud crushing noise. Sasuke grunted loudly as he pounded in to the hard earth. Blood flew out of his lips with a splatter, his chest heaving as the feeling of his crushed ribs made it difficult for him to take in even the shortest inhalation of oxygen. Against his better judgement he tried to pick himself up, only succeeding in triggering the agonizing pain he felt. The Uchiha began crawling as he attempted to get near a rock by which he could force himself to his feet. However he didn't get far as he felt something hard step on his foot, drawing a pained yell out of Sasuke. Naruto brought his knees down as he pinned Sasuke and stared at him with a hard red-eyed gaze.

Naruto was sitting atop the downed Sasuke, clutching at his collar with his clawed hands and glaring intensely at him with a raised fist while the other boy just stared into the distance, obviously disinterested with the blond and the pain he felt. Naruto's fist shook with rage and anger while he glared at the roughed up Uchiha who was staring into the distance with his red eyes.

"Do it." the ravenhead exclaimed suddenly with a light tone in his voice and his eyes unfocused while his blond teammate held him by the high collar of his shirt. Naruto's eyes widened as he immediately knew to what the Uchiha was referring to. "Kill me, because if you don't I will not stop. I will go to Orochimaru and I will get the power to avenge my clan." Grabbing the blonde's arm with his two hands in a firm grip, Sasuke glared at him. "SO KILL ME NARUTO OR MAYBE YOU DON'T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO SO."

"**Sasuke…**" Naruto whispered as he looked at the other boy with a look that clearly displayed his visible bewilderment and abject disbelief. "**I…**" Naruto whispered out with a low voice, words struggling to form in his mind and his tongue feeling as if it were tied with a thousand tiny strings.

"What are you waiting for idiot? DO IIIIITTTT!" Sasuke spat at the blond with a loud voice while he glared intensely at the blond, his Sharingan spinning excitedly in a wild manner around his pupil as he did so.

"**I can't…you're my best friend Sasuke.**" Naruto said as the hardness in his eyes somewhat softened but appeared misplaced on his feral visage. Sasuke gave a bitter, ironic smile in answer before it broke into a full blown neurotic laughter. Slowly, flame-like design filled marks crawled upon the Uchiha skin yet again as his curse mark flared.

"You idiot, you think I care? I will not go back to Konoha Naruto, I'd rather die, or rather…" Sasuke grabbed the blond by his hands before with a crushing strength he didn't know he possessed; he threw him down the steep hill, following after him as the blond slowly descended toward the lake below, his face possessing an absent expression. "You are the one who will die…your death, will help me achieve the power _he_ spoke about." Naruto just stared absently in an obvious reverie and daze as Sasuke slowly descended toward his own still falling figure, his Sharingan ablaze with fury and insanity.

'_Why? I thought I was only doing this to help you Sasuke…' _Naruto thought as a punch collided with his face with a loud impact, blood flying out of the unresponsive blonde's mouth. _'I thought…we were friends. That you understood…'_

Sasuke pummelled Naruto with a flurry of ruthless punches and kicks, the sound of hard fists meeting skin echoing throughout the valley before the two crashed into the large body of water with Sasuke still atop the blond and mercilessly pummelling away at him.

'_But now I see, if I can't save you. Then I would have to do what you ask of me,'_ Naruto thought as everything for him happened in agonizing slow motions. He was numbed to the pain of his teammate's hard blows, a scattered and distant look in his slitted red orbs. _'I'm sorry, Sakura…'_ Naruto thought solemnly as he felt something welling up inside of him. Something incredible, it felt like, like he had just discovered an unknown part of himself, a page previously unturned and one which he had been oblivious to. It was alluring, and it enticed him with its enchanting call. He found himself sedately floating within an endless pit filled blinding whiteness with a beguiling tranquillity; it was infinite, seemingly stretching on for eons of miles with no boundaries or no ending and Naruto did not dare attempt to peer further ahead as the glaring light within the space stung at his sapphire blue eyes.

It shone brightly within his being and he could see them, two men. One was clad in red Samurai-esque armour, his silky long hair ruffling under the bright blinding light while most of his physical features couldn't be made out with the bright light that shone and radiated from him. His bearings also seemed disturbingly familiar to Naruto even though the blond couldn't make him out with the brightness of the space all around them. The other Naruto hadn't seen before in his life but he felt as if he knew him, as if he was connected somewhat to him and disturbingly, the man bore a great resemblance to himself except with dark brown spiky locks with two tied locks of hair framing his face and a bandage wrapped around his forehead, making up for the lack of headband. What little Naruto could fuzzily make out of the man due to the glaring light in the white space surrounding them was the long light-coloured Kimono with black Magatama markings around the collar and held closed by a dark sash.

The latter spiky-haired man strode toward Naruto, before staring at him with solemn brown orbs filled with sadness, staring at the floored Naruto who was staring up with partly open eyes to avoid going blind, "Your path has changed. How ironic that you who will accomplish what has forever been our dream, has found an answer in darkness," The man poked Naruto's forehead with his finger and Naruto's eyes were engulfed in a sea of whiteness as the two disappeared from his vision. "Darkness which you have fought to embrace your whole life." the voice whispered as it faded into nothingness with its owner.

Naruto regained his bearings as he felt it, power; utter, incredible and untapped measures of withheld power waiting to be relinquished and unbridled from whatever binding it had restraining it. The water didn't even seem to bother him much as he seemed to have forgotten about breathing. Something within him was boiling, moulding and churning his insides as if being shaped by the gods. All gates were opened and Naruto felt an incredible peace wash over him despite the debilitating blows that were being dealt to him by the Uchiha as they descended lower and lower into the depths of the lake.

The surface of the water bubbled wildly as whatever activity the two were embroiled in underneath disturbed the clear surface of the lake. A few seconds later, Sasuke pulled himself from within the river. He fell to his knees, panting harshly while also drawing in long inhalations of breath from his time spent within the water and depraved of air. He picked himself up, before with hobbling steps he began walking away while giving constant winces of pain. He couldn't believe Naruto had pushed him this far, even Gaara hadn't been capable of doing so, but considering that Naruto had beaten the Suna Genin, it had to mean he had improved. Sasuke fell to his knees, water cascading down his face in countless rivulets, before picking himself up yet again while wincing in pain. However it all counted for naught now. He had beaten Naruto. He was now finally sure of who was the stronger between them, it-

Sasuke's eyes widened as a blood-curdling and humbling Chakra spike came from within the water, the sheer immensity and potency of the discharge of raw Chakra brought the Uchiha to his knees. Unlike the earlier Chakra spur and red Chakra, this one felt more relaxed and pure, but it was still tinted with hatred and anger but it was very hard to pick up on. The raven-head felt the water rumble with great roaring vibrations, and immediately alarm etched unto his face as his eyes narrowed. Almost on instinct, something just told him to jump and he did…

Sasuke's eyes went wide with horror as an enormous wooden root emerged from the surface of the water searchingly, attempting to ensnare him underneath its crushing grip.

"This is…" Sasuke uttered with sordid shock in his voice before his eyes hardened with anger and fear simultaneously. "N-a-r-u-t-o" he spat out the blonde's name as if it were something very bitter to his tongue. It was very hard for Sasuke to comprehend but for some unfathomable reason Naruto just kept getting stronger and stronger as the fight progressed and now it had culminated in this, an Uchiha's worst match, Mokuton. Tales about that damnable Kekkei Genkai were whispered constantly within the Uchiha clan for what its original wielder had accomplished with it. How Naruto came to be in possession of it, Sasuke had no ounce of idea how, but it certainly added to his growing frustration. The question on his mind was whether Naruto was a Senju? To Sasuke the very notion sounded laughable and absurd but his rational side told him that he knew; that the evidence had been there the whole time. The absurdly large reserves, quick healing had to amount to something. He wasn't truly sure and figured that only the higher ups in Konoha would know but if it was so, his and Naruto's fates were far intertwined than he had first imagined.

Three more wooden vines flew out of the water, lashing out at everything with wild swings with Sasuke doing all he could to keep from being caught by them. Long waves were sent crushing to the shore as the sheer size of the wooden plants upset the water level slightly. Sasuke panted with exhaustion as the endless barrage of attacks would not abate, before he looked up as he saw Naruto slowly ascend from the water as if being elevated by something gently. The orange-clad blond was revealed, a giant tree vine underneath his feet while he glared at Sasuke with a look the Uchiha couldn't comprehend. Naruto brought his hands up before thousands upon thousands of wooden spikes slowly parted out of the water, with Sasuke's eyes widening incomprehensively to the size of dinner plates. _'The whole time, he was…'_

"It's over Sasuke…" Naruto said calmly before he set all hell loose as his spikes flew from the water, collecting in the air before raining down on the raven-head who could stare on with miserable shock and helplessness as the hellish sight of hundreds of long wooden stakes descended toward him.

* * *

Sakura pressed on with her run while sweat glistened down her body in large beads. Just a little while longer and she would find them, the trails were very obvious and it appeared the two weren't very concerned about being followed. With the way their steps, she assumed Sasuke was leading Naruto somewhere while the blond chased after him as his trail revealed the Uchiha was not really trying to get away from the blond. She had passed by Rock Lee and Gaara facing a boy with white hair with the ability to manipulate his bones and skeletal structure and use them as weapons. She had assumed that the boy might have been sent to derail whatever retrieval team Konoha would send and seeing how calm he had been about facing both Gaara and Lee, she knew he had to be utterly strong. Alas, she knew Gaara would bury him alive somehow, that guy still haunted her dreams and he certainly did not wish to be the Otogakure Genin.

She looked up, as just some few metres away from her and entering her line of sight, the trees gave way to bright light which she could not pierce through as she was still some distance away from shedding away from the forest. Loud noises and sounds of crushing waves reached her ears before the sound of loud of fighting reached her ears and immediately her heart soared with relief and yet fear as she was acutely aware of what that sound could mean.

She tried to put off the scene she was already imagining, of Sasuke clutching his lightning blazing arm while Naruto held a destructive ball of swirling Chakra within his hand. She knew she had to hurry, and with how louder and louder the powers of their techniques and how their foul Chakra increased, she knew she didn't have long. A powerful spike of Chakra floored the pink-haired completely, sending shivers crawling down her spine at the enormity of it. Miraculously, she pulled herself up. Pushing more of her depraved Chakra into her feet, the pink-haired strained her legs into a harsh run, her heart thumping loudly within her chest with every step and every lengthy leap.

As she ran forward, dark, ominous clouds followed after her, almost as if her mere presence carried with it dark consequences or bad omens of some sort.

* * *

Sasuke watched on with horror as several thousand wooden spikes descended toward him. Frustration could be made out from his face as he desperately tried to move but to his shock he couldn't and even if he did, he wouldn't dodge them all. All he saw was his death falling toward him while he stood unmoving in wait and Sasuke could not accept that. The need for something to happen washed over him with a vengeance. He felt a pulsing heat emanate from his neck, racking his whole being with unbelievable amounts of pain and corrosive power. Two large grotesque webbed wings burst from his back, his skin taking on a greyed quality, while a four-pointed star-like mark appeared on the bridge of his nose. His hair lengthened, stretching to his waist and also while turning into a pale purple colour. His sclerae darkened completely, a pale sheen of blue covering his lips akin to lipstick. The webbed wings on his back draped themselves around his form, just before Naruto's technique hit.

Sasuke winced in pain as he felt the resilient sharp wooden stakes dig into the hand-shaped wings on his back, but luckily they held on and stood tough against all the others. The constant barrage of raining spikes abated as more and more bounced off the Uchiha.

Naruto frowned as he saw Sasuke's strange wings unfurl before the Uchiha emerged with a victorious smirk on his face as he flexed the 'things' on his back with a maniacal grin on his face. Naruto looked at himself as well, noting the large root he rode on. It was almost as if it responded to his will as it slowly slinked back into the water, leaving him standing on the top of the water with only his Chakra. He stared at the Uchiha, feeling pity and disgust at the transformation he had undergone. People called him a monster but he was nothing compared to what Sasuke was right now, it was an abomination of nature and Naruto strangely noted how he could feel a strange corrupted presence of sinister and unstable Chakra within Sasuke.

Sasuke though had no time for pleasantries as he charged Naruto with blurring speeds of his own, Naruto tensing as he prepared to defend himself as well. Both flew at each other, fists reared back before they met each other's respective faces with loud impacts which had the effect of knocking them back toward opposite sides of the valley, with each landing on the large shoe of the two statues standing opposite the other in the valley. Naruto grunted as he pulled himself into a standing position with the transformed Sasuke doing the same from where he stood atop the shoe of Madara's statue.

Sasuke smirked arrogantly as he gazed toward Naruto, "It's time to end this Naruto. I must say that you surprised me, but I've played this game of yours long enough. Do you know why they call this place the valley of the end?" Sasuke said with a maniacal grin on his darkened face as he stared at the normal looking blond who merely kept quiet. The two grotesque webbed hands on his back shook as he chuckled ominously, his sense of humour apparently lost on the other boy. "Oh, I guess you wouldn't know, huh knucklehead? This is where battles like ours end and this…" Sasuke's relinquished the smile on his face for a hard stare as haunting bladed pinwheel red eyes flew open in his head, "Is the end of this fight, THE END OF IT ALL!" he weaved through three sets of hand signs at a moderate pace before he muttered the name of his Jutsu as Lightning engulfed his hand. "Chidori!"

Naruto did the same as he opened his palm, a ball of Chakra swirling within it, with Naruto not paying attention to how it swirled with a dense and thickness that was not normally associated with it. "Rasengan!" Naruto uttered as his technique completed, remarkably without the aid of a Kage Bushin as he normally required. A thick long flexible stem of wood crept up Naruto's back, coiling and wrapping itself around his waist like a twine of some sort.

Loud sounds of chirping birds and the rushing sound of the pounding waterfall filled the space around them as the two stared at one another, Sasuke with his black sclerae, red pupil eyes and Naruto with his own intense yet normal blue eyes.

A second of no activity on both their parts as they merely stared at one another, with a tense of muscle, Naruto was hurled toward Sasuke by the long, thick plant wrapped around his waist, with the Uchiha doing the same with his inhumane wings. The two flew toward the other with their gazes firmly on the other and nothing else. If only they had paid attention, they would have heard the shout of fright and the mop of pink hair as someone ran toward their convergence point in the hopes of stopping them.

"CHIRORI/RASENGAN!" both Sasuke and Naruto shouted as they launched forth their empowered techniques of destruction, knowing very well the destructive backlash a result the clash of the two techniques would create. Naruto managed to catch a strand of pink out of the corner of his eye as he dove toward Sasuke, dragging his swirling ball on the raging waterfall and his eyes widened horrendously as he was able to make out the person sprinting toward where they would clash with her eyes closed and tears falling out of her eyes, in a manner similar to how she had the last time round.

Naruto's heart fell and a cold wave of fear swept through his spine as he dreaded the impact. He found that he couldn't move nor stop his momentum and could only look at the girl running toward them with helpless eyes before he shifted his gaze to Sasuke, "SASUKE STOOOPPP!" unfortunately though it seemed the other boy didn't hear him with the pounding noise of the waterfall.

Sasuke watched the idiot as he shouted something inaudibly but the Uchiha figured it was another shout of 'SASUKE!' and as such he kept on, launching his hand forward.

Naruto closed his eyes as his technique drove into something soft, and he felt as Sasuke's Chidori also plunged through flesh and then the terrifying squelch of blood rung throughout the area. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as his technique wasn't meant with the grinding force and power he had been anticipating but soft flesh. He opened his eyes only to freeze, and saying that Sasuke froze over killing a person wasn't something normal.

"Sa…kura." Sasuke breathed out in shock while Naruto's eyes were closed as his technique faded away into nothingness, blood splattered across all their clothing with the Uchiha levitating mid-air through his wings while Naruto used Chakra to perch himself atop the falling waterfall.

The pink-haired blinked as she looked down at the hand plunged through her chest, her back was torn apart as well, while her lung was ripped apart by Sasuke's Chidori. "I-I… (Cough, splat)" she only managed to get out before she slumped with Naruto catching her while Sasuke stood frozen. Tears came to Naruto's eyes, while a feeling of numbness and disbelief settled over him as he completely forgot Sasuke. He stared at her bloodied face, and the horrified look in her wide eyes, knowing very well he was the cause of it. Knowing very well he had just taken her life. Naruto felt whispers sounding off in his head, countless small voices recounting his memories.

'_Monster,'_ they kept repeating, knocking hard against his wearied mental defence lines. _'Look what you did to her.'_

'_Monster, you're a monster.' _The vicious whispers ran through his mind with a sick vigour, drilling thoughts of insanity into his distraught being.

'_You're a monster.' _

'_You killed her'_

'_Demon...'_

'_Do you see now?' _Thousands upon thousands of grim bloody upper torso-less bodies flashed past his face, scattered heads lying across the ground, all staring up at him with unbelievably wide eyes, repeatedly muttering and chanting a haunting mantra in his head,_ 'Monster.' _

He could picture it the whole of Konoha admonishing him and finally winning because right now he felt they had won. The world was against him and he had tried to fight it but now he wanted no more. Naruto's form vibrated with constant shivers, his eyes wide as the disturbing thoughts would not leave his head. _'Perhaps you don't want them to…'_ A voice whispered in his ear. Insanity…

Was this it? Naruto wondered to himself as he couldn't banish the grotesque images of talking heads out of his head. Had he finally fallen to it after so long?

Sasuke snapped out of his daze as he stared at Naruto who was staring open mouthed at the deceased pink-haired in his arms. Sasuke felt a slight burn in his eyes making him close them as he was acutely aware as to what it had to signify and it disgusted him how he had awakened it. His eyes returned back to their normal onyx colour while he stared forlornly at the blond who just looked numbed.

Sasuke winced as the cursed seal slowly disappeared into him, the wings on his back fading back into his flesh as he landed on the water surface on his knees, blood flying out of his mouth, he stood up slowly, "I'm sorry Naruto…" that was all the Uchiha could manage before he hesitantly turned around and left the blond kneeling atop the surface of the water with Sakura in his arms. Sasuke's heart was heavy with the mounting guilt he felt while he dragged his feet across the ground away from his former teammates and out of Hi no Kuni.

Drip.

A single drop fell atop Naruto's face, masking the tear that fell down it.

Drip. Drip.

More came down, the cold drumming noises of their pitter-patter echoing throughout the valley loudly. Naruto did not even flinch at the chilly feeling of the small drops as they meekly soaked him up, seeping through his clothing and form while he just knelt unresponsively straddling the deceased pink-haired on his lap. The down-pouring rain was set down on the sobbing blond, washing away at him with a ruthless vigour, matting his spiky locks and causing them to cling to his face and fall over his eyes in dripping wet bangs. His eyes burned red with unshed tears as he continued caressing the mop of pink hair propped atop his lap while nodding frantically to himself as if to reassure himself of what was forever lost. The battle was over, Sakura was dead and he had let Sasuke escape.

She was gone….forever.

The fresh smell of rain permeated the clearing as all was tranquil and noiseless except for the soft choked sobs of Naruto and the pounding sound of rain shower. Lightning thundered in the skies with a loud clap, splitting the heavens in half and lighting up the destroyed valley with a momentary flash of brightness before a dark shadow loomed over Naruto's knelt form. Raising his head, Naruto was met with the sight of a wet black cloak with red cloud designs on it and then the face of the man donning it came into view.

The man or whatever thing it was had two distinct facial skin colours separating both sides of its face. The right half of his face was black with a yellow eye while the left side was purely white, containing somewhat normal features like a nose, an eye with yellow irides. He had dark green hair which was damp from the rain and what appeared to be some kind of large Venus fly-trap protruding from his cloak and enveloping his head.

It was obvious that this man was an Akatsuki, but the blond couldn't care less. Naruto's focus was solely on his lost crush and he didn't pay much attention to the man before him, if he was to be killed, he would accept it, for failing Sakura and so that maybe he could be with her wherever the dead convened.

"**Boy,**" a deep voice came from the man's black half but Naruto did not even regard him or look up as he just continued stroking and rocking his dead teammate, "**What is it that you desire most?**" he asked while staring down at the blond.

After a short wave of silence with Naruto not giving a response and the only sound coming from the pounding shower of the rain he spoke with his head lowered, "I want her back," Naruto said absently, stroking Sakura's hair his gaze still firmly on her. "I couldn't fulfil her promise and at the end, she died at my own hand."

"**We could give her back to you.**"The man said much to Naruto's shock and much understandable scepticism, but one look at the being's face told Naruto he wasn't joking. The man's darker half's visage hardened while his white half just seemed absent and unresponsive,** "All you have to do is embrace us, embrace…the darkness.**" The plant-like being offered its dark hand to Naruto while staring down at him with a stern expression, "**Join us brother and I will give her back to you and much…much more.**" The strange Akatsuki offered while Naruto mulled over the offer.

Going back to Konoha most likely meant he would face trial for murder. Also there was the failure of capturing Sasuke and the guilt, the crushing guilt of Sakura's death weighed heavily on his conscience. Most surely Konoha would call for his death, though he certainly wished to meet that fate in this very minute to atone for his sins and failures. However, just the small chance, no matter how small of bringing Sakura back for her family was enough to convince him not to rush to his death. Even if he would have to become a monster he would do it, while hiding in the darkness and finding solace within it, he would face it without regret.

"**Be quick about it, someone is briskly approaching.**" The man's voice broke Naruto from his pit of mulling and deep thinking.

"What about…" Naruto asked quietly, trailing off at the end of his statement while his gaze moved toward the prone form of the pink-haired within his arms. The harsh noise of rain only seemed to increase as the two stood atop the water surface, making barely any significant movements.

"**It is alright, a clone of mine will take care of it.**" The strange being responded as it discerned what the blond was trying to convey, staring at Sakura's form with slightly narrowed eyes.

Naruto laid Sakura's body atop the surface of the water softly, his wet bangs shadowing his blue sharp eyes before he lifted up with and slowly reached with his hand, ever so hesitant before it grasped the man's own. His face lifted up and his sharp sapphire blues made contact with the Akatsuki's own yellow ones in a stare that brought a smirk to the man's face. And in that very moment, the shinobi world and everything about it would change, because another monster had been birthed by the system of Ninja.

'_**You will become my greatest pawn, the one who will steer forth our goal, one that would end all pains.**__' _The green-haired man thought with an inward grin as he and Naruto disappeared from where they stood, with only an apparition of their clothing remaining.

* * *

●**Translations●**

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Summoning Technique**

**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball technique**

**Hi no Kuni: Fire Country**

**Otogakure no Sato: Hidden Sound Village**

**Ninken: Ninja Dogs**

**Sharingan: Copy wheel eye**

**Mokuton: Wood Release **

* * *

**Well, there it is…Naruto has Mokuton, and who exactly did he meet in his short dream? Who is the Akatsuki and what does he have planning for the emotionally wrenched blond? How will Konoha react to this, if even they find out? What about Jiraiya and Tsunade, what did she have to tell Naruto? Hoho, more drama to come in the next chapters so please, you know the trick. **

**Please drop a review; I want them like my life depends on it...well it kind of does.**

**Immortal out…**


	3. Konoha's Tears

**Let me just do a quick disclaimer before I get on with the show. I don't own Naruto, well that's about it really.**

* * *

**Now, this is not a fan fiction which will be like my other fan fictions. It will be different and from what you have read I know that you can recognise that simple fact. I hope to have this finished before March or April next year by the latest and thus it will run for say thirty to thirty five chapters long by my estimates, I don't know but we will just see. I will begin regularly updating it from now on, it's sort of a disturbing idea that just won't leave my mind until I can finish it and give myself five less things to worry about. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it won't be humorous or anything or action filled. It will be depressing…emotionally depressing. **

* * *

●**Chapter 1: Konoha's Tears ●**

* * *

Kakashi ran with immeasurable speeds as he could feel the constant spikes of Chakra ahead of them fade down to dull nil. Worry could be picked up from his lone visible eye and in the tense posture he exuded as he leaped toward his students. His heart had plummet and a weighing tight knot had emerged within his being when the flaring of Chakra dispersed down to almost a naught and Kakashi being the experienced Jonin he was and having lived through a war, he surmised that could only mean one thing, the battle was over.

Forcing more Chakra into the soles of his feet the man blurred atop the trees, his small canine companion increasing its own speed as well to keep up with his pace. Kakashi could feel the suspense build up as they edged closer, the brief spark of fear alighting within his heart. What if they had indeed killed each other? What about Sakura, so far he had ran into Rock Lee and the others, to whom he promised the arrival of Med-nins to help them out of their predicament. However he had not seen Sakura, and the last to see herm being Lee, pointed him in the direction of the valley. His mind was plagued by questions of whether Sasuke and Naruto could resolve what rivalry existed between them without effectively crippling or killing each other in the process but the Jonin was not willing to rest all his hopes on that thought.

The last time the two had flew at each other with dangerous techniques and who was to say they were not going to do the same in this instance. So far Kakashi knew that even though Sasuke held all the cards, versatile in many forms of the Ninja arts than Naruto was, the blond was going to still make it harder for the Uchiha. Naruto was stronger than Sasuke when it came to fighting the long haul, and he could possibly tire the Uchiha out but that would only trigger another problem, the cursed seal. Naruto would not handle Sasuke should that seal start acting up and Kakashi knew Sasuke would possibly kill Naruto if the seal overwhelmed him.

Nonetheless he stared forth as he saw the edge of the row of trees approaching, he gazed toward the small dog summon beside him as they finally shed away from the thick and dense forestry. He emerged to the sight of chaos within the valley. The two hills connected to the opposite statues of the founders of Konoha had collapsed from possibly the shock of the battle. The statues however still stood intimidating and unmarked, which was a sort of a relief. Kakashi stared farther ahead on the hilltop where he could see a vaguely visible silhouette of orange, lying sprawled on the ground with another next to it.

This time Kakashi did feel the stone weighing his insides sink to deeper unknowns. The rain soaked at him but he was absent toward its scathing wrath and harsh droplets. Languidly and with uncertainty Kakashi began moving toward them, forcing himself to remain calm in the face of such circumstances. If those two lying ahead of him, with the rain beating down on them with a fierce harshness did prove to be Naruto and what he guessed Sakura, the Jonin had not an ounce of an idea how he was to react.

His face was oddly calm and unreadable as he moved closer and closer before he finally found himself standing over the two. His eye merely dropped with sadness, a sigh escaping his lips as he did so. His fears had been proven true and what lay before him was not just the unmoving figure of Naruto, pale, with dull lifeless eyes staring strangely at the sky but that of Sakura as well. Sakura's body was laid right next to Naruto's, soaked to the bone and with the smears of blood staining it's visage slowly washing off under the pounding force of rain and the cleansing quality of water.

Kakashi sighed heavily, ignoring the deep pit of sorrow, regret and guilt that threatened to drown him. Everything felt like his fault. Had he been a better mentor and actually took all his Genin seriously, then this catastrophe could have been avoided.

Both Naruto and Sakura would be alive and Sasuke, that name made his blood boil, but not more than his own failures and shortcomings did. He had always presumed to understand Sasuke, his motives, his feelings as they both shared an unsavoury childhood but Naruto had also been far worse off, except without knowing the pain of a loss of family. The only difference was that Naruto did not sulk about his dark, forgettable childhood and grew from his experiences. Perhaps Naruto's carefree demeanour had been the reason he had not actually put much of an effort into understanding him, focusing more on the revenge driven Sasuke because of the debt that he felt he owed to his deceased Uchiha teammate.

Suddenly Kakashi was no longer staring at said blond but a young girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes, with purple rectangular markings on her cheeks, staring at him with wide eyes with his hand lodged within her. The Jonin forced the darkened memories to the forgotten recesses of his mind; it was no use thinking about that now. He had two deceased students and another who had went rogue after possibly murdering his teammates in cold blood with a technique taught to him for the purpose of protecting. The two had remains of blood which seemed to have been slowly peeling off of them under the cleansing rush of rainfall and he could see well the gaping hole that decorated Naruto's chest while Sakura was in a far worse position, lying in a pool of her own blood which had mixed with a puddle formed by the falling rain. Her chest had a large grotesque hole in it, presumably the cause of her death and the mark just pointed to one possibility, the Chidori. Kakashi felt bitterness rise within his heart at the sight before him. In his mind, he believed himself to be the cause of all this, he had failed team 7. He had attempted to write his wrongs with this team but in the end he ended up providing one student with the instrument to kill his comrades, going exactly against their team code.

He simply felt numbed and helpless, defeated by life. His life must be cursed. Once again he stood, staring down at the bodies of yet more he had held close to his heart. It was maddening, Kami had to be against him and Kakashi truly felt as if finally this was his cue, the perfect opportunity where he would finally lose his mind because indeed the gods had to be trying him.

The silver-haired man fell to his knees in a sign of surrender, of yielding finally to whatever deity took pleasure in poking him toward madness. He just wished for it to end. He had enough.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry…" His brown canine companion droned lowly in a deep voice, its eyes mere slits from the sad squinting.

He did not even feel the need to ask about his wayward student. It was clear to him that Sasuke was the cause of all this, with the rain pouring as harsh as it was, there was no way they could find his trail or even correctly pinpoint his scent. The rain would wash or scatter either of them around. Besides, Kakashi did not even care what happened to Sasuke. Sasuke was the symbol of his failure, and Naruto and Sasuke were simply the victims of that failure. He just nodded to the small brown pug with a dull shake of his head. The summon acknowledged his nod and disappeared to leave the man alone to his pain.

Kakashi scooted toward Naruto's figure, which strangely held a serene expression on its visage. As if it had been set free, despite the Kunai lodged right through its head and the scarring hole on his chest, another Chidori mark. The blonde's jumpsuit was red from the pool of blood underneath him, with his bright yellow hair dull and lifeless and having lost its rather special and natural glow. It felt so strange, terrifying and completely wrong, seeing Naruto like this. So calm, serene, motionless and without life. This boy had been so full of life just a few days ago, so full of energy and happiness. He had a dream, but it had been snuffed out of his grasp just as his life had been so prematurely.

It was excruciatingly painful, to know that he had not been able to protect Naruto's dream and Sakura's innocence and it was something he felt he could not live with, would struggle to live with. Despite all this, he still had one last duty to his village. He still had to get the two back to Konoha. Others were worried over them and Kakashi cringed to imagine the reaction they would give to their deaths. He brought his hands up before his face, crossing his index fingers before in a plume of smoke, a clone appeared beside him, knelt in a similar stance to his own and hovering over Sakura's form.

The man gently slid his hands under Naruto's body, suppressing a flinch at how cold it felt. He scooped Naruto into his arms as he stood up, his Kage Bunshin doing the same with Sakura. '_I suppose this is the official end of team 7_.' Kakashi thought while Naruto's prone body lay in a nestled position within his arms. A sad expression was within the man's eye, somehow Kakashi knew for sure that he was cursed. Everyone around him dies, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He gazed one last time at the valley, remarking in his mind that it was indeed THE valley of the end.

* * *

●**Konoha**

Tsunade stood at the village gate with a team of medical Ninja awaiting Kakashi's arrival. The rest of the members from the retrieval squad had been collected and had all undergone treatment at the hospital as some of them arrived knocking on deaths door. It had gone well though and the only missing Genin were Naruto and Sakura, and Sasuke if said former Genin were able to stop the raven-haired Uchiha. It had been quite a while since they have been standing there and Tsunade had begun growing somewhat impatient and worried at the same time. She still could not dismiss that small spark of fear and worry concerning the health of the two members of team Kakashi. She did not wish to hope, to pray that Naruto would return safe but she had found herself subconsciously praying to the gods that they protect that boy.

Thoughts ranging from concern over Naruto's wellbeing raced through her mind and she couldn't repel them away no matter how much she tried. She worried for Sakura also, but the pink-haired girl was not as close to her as Naruto was. They had not even interacted much since she took charge of the helm of Hokage. However Naruto was her family, one of the few precious people she had left and the thought that something might have happened to him disturbed and numbed her.

She snapped out of her musings as she saw her team of Medical Ninja glance forward. Tsunade reared her head to the sight of the silver-haired figures of Kakashi and what looked like to be a Bunshin of him enter their line of sight. They were carrying what appeared to be an unresponsive Naruto and motionless Sakura in the bridal style and telling from Kakashi's rather mechanical manner of walking, Tsunade felt her heart drop simultaneously. Her eyes went wide but she strangely controlled herself, they were not dead, they could not be. She told herself but deep down she knew that if the two were critically injured Kakashi would've been sprinting toward Konoha speedily but seeing him walk like that, with dull, dead steps and a sorrowful air about him, Tsunade knew that something terribly wrong had happened and that did not help her growing apprehension.

Her heartbeat increased rapidly as Kakashi and his clone edged closer to them and she could see that their gaze were fixed on the ground, his eyes particularly focused on his feet in a dead and blank stare, almost as if nothing about the world interested him. Shizune herself trembled as she saw the man's lone eye not even blinking, almost as if he had forgotten he was alive. The figures in their hands were not making any movements either, with their heads just rocking back and forth with each step Kakashi took in a lifeless manner.

Kakashi did not even look up at them as he finally stopped before them. "I'm sorry…I didn't make it in time." Kakashi whispered softly to the Hokage tersely and laid the two corpses on the ground before he began walking away to find somewhere he could wallow in his own guilt and sorrow.

The medical Nins and Shizune quickly moved toward the two bodies, checking for pulses while Tsunade stood frozen and motionless. She just stared absently at Naruto's pale visage, completely unresponsive to the way in which the medic Nins shook their heads negatively and sadly as they withdrew their palms from both Naruto and Sakura's necks.

Tsunade stared toward the motionless corpses, her brown eyes resting particularly on Naruto's pallid form, stripped of all its life, energy and warmth and lying before her a lifeless bloody heap like all her loved ones always returned. She appeared bizarrely apathetic, her brown orbs blinking with a startling dullness. Her eyes were shrouded by a dead haze as if what stood before her was some sort of nightmare which she was being forced to revisit or relive. Her eyes simply could not tear their gaze from Naruto's chest, unmoving and so disturbingly serene.

A phantom sound similar to a heartbeat resonated within her mind, snapping her into full action as she shoved her way past the white clad bodies of medical Ninja. Tsunade seemed strangely nonchalant to the sight before her, but her breathing had gotten heavier and the eyeballs in her eye shook violently. She felt numb, useless and helpless. She put her hand hastily on Naruto's face once more to feel it cold as ice, no ounce or shred of warmth still permeating in it to comfort her.

She immediately planted her hands on the chest of Naruto, feeling for a heartbeat which was not there. However she was absentminded toward that fact as she began pushing down hard on said blonde's chest with her hands, occasionally resting her ear on his chest to feel for something, anything.

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune began softly with an empathetic stare on her face as she stared at the blond woman. The whole team of medical Ninja knelt around in a circle were also staring at the blond village leader oddly, her behaviour seeming to strike them as unconventional, well, for a medic that was. Tsunade appeared to be somewhat deaf toward Shizune's words as she continued attempting to revive Naruto. Shizune however was not impressed, although her eyes were narrowed, trembling while she had her bottom lip pursed in between her teeth as a glossy haze alit in her black eyes.

"Tsunade-sama, can't you see? Naruto is…" She trailed off herself at the end, not quite sure if she would believe her own words.

She watched as the woman's hands glowed and were enshrouded with a green haze, "Come on you careless brat, you can't die on me now." The woman droned lowly, as if muttering to herself. She sent more Chakra to her hands as sweat lined her pale features, "Who's going to become Hokage when I retire huh?"

"Tsunade-sama Naruto is g-" Shizune began with a bit more steel in her tone but was stopped by a strong glare from Tsunade. Shizune's heart fell at the look of fear and childish denial plainly written in the woman's eyes.

"No, this must be one of his pranks." She nodded to herself repeatedly as if in an attempt to assure herself of the sensibility of that, "He'll wake up soon enough. He promised he wouldn't die."

Shizune moved closer to the woman, keeling beside her and putting a hand over her own bloody one, "You heard Kakashi said, it-"

"Shizune shut up." The woman interrupted hotly, "I'm going to use Byakugou no Jutsu on him." She brought her hands up to form a hand seal only for them to be slapped away by Shizune who glared at her with fuming eyes, surprising the blond Hokage.

"Tsunade," Shizune nearly shouted as tears began streaming down her eyes, "H-he is dead. Naruto's dead." She trembled as she broke into tears herself, while Tsunade's visage twisted from one of denial to anger and then shock as she suddenly froze, as if her wayward mind had suddenly registered something.

Tsunade stared at her hands with an examining and shocked stare. So much blood was on them, so much that she felt herself drowning in it, losing her mind. It was the blood of yet another the necklace had claimed, her curse. The woman's form began shaking like a leaf and a choked sob escaped her lips which she bit on hard, her body becoming taut with pain, sorrow and all sorts of suppressed emotion. And just like that Tsunade crumbled like an infallible empire, painful sobs escaping freely from her. Shizune grabbed the blond woman into a hug as the woman wept painfully.

The medics nodded amongst each other before they gently carried the two motionless bodies away as the two women just sat there, both lost in their heart wrenching melody of sorrow.

Naruto…. Her mind kept on whispering than name and repeating it within her head like the chant of a madman.

* * *

●**Hokage Tower**

A red eyed but now composed Tsunade sighed wearily as she watched Mebuki Haruno break down into tears before her, her husband uttering soothing words into her ear as he pulled her into a hug. Tsunade could not help but feel their pain seeping into her own heart. She knew well the pain of loss and knew how much the two had to be hurting. The loss of a child was not easy to overcome and nothing could prepare any mother for that crushing pain, however sadly, it was what being involved in the line of Shinobi brought with.

The glory of the few is dwarfed by the many that are lost in their line and yet no one remembers the children who die to win their villages war or to complete mission far beyond their capabilities. As Kage, she would remember every face because it was she who sent them to their deaths. This sobered her up on the demands and challenges of being Hokage and she felt as if she could not handle it any longer. She sometimes wished for the day when Shinobi or their barbaric system would not be needed to maintain power in the world. Perhaps one day, that may just happen but not today. Today was just yet another day of pain and grief.

She watched as the pink-haired Kizashi escorted his wife out of the office, the woman teary mess. The man gave one last bow as he exited the office, but Tsunade did not even see it even though the door was where her gaze rested, all she saw was a haze, distorted images.

She sighed deeply yet again. It just never ended for those involved in their line of work, the pain. So many people die in their world that death becomes normalized and everyone else impassive toward it. She stared outside where the sky was grumpy and swirling with darkened clouds, almost as if giving further merit to the gloomy and depressing setting. Tomorrow they would hold the funeral ceremony. It was the best they could do to honour the memories of their lost ones.

She brought her mind back into place as she snapped her finger and the two ANBU stationed outside the office appeared instantly before her, their head bowed as they knelt before her.

"You," She motioned to the male ANBU in a bear mask who acknowledged with a nod, "Bring me Hatake Kakashi." She commanded simply and the porcelain masked black op just nodded and disappeared in a whirlwind.

She gazed toward the remaining figure, a female with straight purple hair going to her wait and a cat-like mask, whose head faced the ground as she awaited her orders, ""Find me the best squad there is." The woman's head perked up slightly in some form of surprise as she understood not what the Hokage could want an ANBU squad for but she waited patiently. "I want them to infiltrate Otogakure. I want Sasuke Uchiha found, so that I will break him myself." She said in a tone laced with such venom that the ANBU standing away from her could feel Goosebumps rising on her skin, her fingers interlocked in front of her narrowed eyes. Regardless the woman nodded and she disappeared in a similar manner to the other ANBU earlier.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed once the two were out of her sight, she and the copy ninja were going to have a very serious talk.

Some might say that her grief was forcing her to act out irrationally and that her actions might cost Konoha more men than they were ready to lose, but she could find it in herself to care at this moment. If it was not for the responsibility of being Hokage, she would be at Orochimaru's nest and she would not be stopped in her bid to wring both the necks of the snake and his new toy.

* * *

●**Oto no Kuni**

Sasuke laboured and toppled his way toward where through blurred and lidded eyes he could see a person awaiting him further on an empty clearing surrounded by trees on all sides. He had crossed the border not long ago and was finally through into Ta no Kuni or Oto no Kuni as it was now. The person appeared to be clad in Otogakure colours so Sasuke spared himself the brief worry of encountering another enemy immediately after his bruising battle with Naruto.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sight of the young man before him who wore a disturbingly unperturbed smile on his face, "You," Sasuke droned lowly at the boy whose smile just stretched further. Kabuto Yakushi, quite the little deceiver. A young man of very dark eyes which lay languished behind black rimmed circular glasses, ash-grey hair tied in a ponytail and clad in a high collar sleeveless purple shirt with a white undershirt. He wore dark purple pants, similarly coloured fingerless gloves with an armoured plate on the backhand, a white cloth waistband worn at an angle, a blue headband with the symbol for Otogakure imprinted on it in a musical note and blue sandals.

His eyes just shone of uncanny deception and slyness. After all he had fooled an entire village and got away with it, even fooling Sasuke himself in the process with that perfected friendly smile of his in order to presumably gather data on him. Sasuke reasoned now that it was not by coincidence team 7 had ran into Kabuto in the forest of death. The boy had to have been keeping on him on Orochimaru's order.

"Hello Sasuke-kun. It's good to see you in…such good health," the ash-grey haired young man mocked Sasuke's condition in a lilting soft voice, "Orochimaru-sama will be pleased to see you made it over safely. Though I must admit I'm impressed that even with the cursed seal level two, Naruto managed to do…this to you."

Kabuto received a scathing glare and a snarl from Sasuke at the mention of Naruto's name. A greyed eyebrow rose curiously at the feel of Sasuke's killing intent rise as the boy's onyx eyes diluted red, three tomoe spinning wildly in each eye, "Shut up, I don't want to hear you mention Naruto's name again." Sasuke growled coldly at the boy who though unaffected by the cold glare from Sasuke nodded regardless.

Kabuto merely smiled, waving his hands in front of himself dismissively and in an apologetic manner, "Forgive me. A mistake on my part," He began as he pushed his glasses up with a gloved finger, "I did not realise that he was such a…sensitive subject." Kabuto concluded calmly with his ever present smile.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he moved past the grey-haired bespectacled Oto Nin, "Just get me to Orochimaru. I want to start my training immediately." The raven-haired young Uchiha said in utter seriousness. Of course he wished to begin training to escape the reality of what he had done; it was not merely because of the Mangekyou that he had awakened with a sickening sin of killing his own teammate. It had not been intentional but Sasuke still felt sick of himself, he had become exactly like Itachi in his quest for power and now he had it, the eyes Itachi spoke of and strangely he did not want them, not in the manner in which he had gained them. He was sure that Sakura's death was going to haunt him just as much as that terrible nightmare about the Uchiha massacre that Itachi had induced him to within his Genjutsu.

The look in Naruto's eyes as well haunted him throughout his journey. He had seen the pain, the immense guilt written in the blonde's eyes and Sasuke could not help the feelings of sympathy he had felt at that moment. However there had been nothing he could do, he had destroyed his friendship with Naruto in the worst possible manner. Naruto was the only person who understood what it was like to be him, to be alone and he had left him behind with nothing but a broken soul and a deceased teammate, whom he happened to have a crush for.

"Of course," Kabuto gave his eerie smile as he pushed his glasses up, producing a glow out of them, "Just follow me." He commanded coolly as he began leading the way with Sasuke following after. Kabuto's face was stretched in his signature mischievous smile as he glanced backward at the boy following at him over the corner of his eye.

* * *

●**Unknown Location**

In a dimly lit room occupied by three individuals all clad in similar cloaks with red cloud patterns, who were all seated atop large throne-like chairs, a Venus fly-trap like appendage rose from the ground in the centre of the room slowly. The figure of the man with contrasting body halves wearing the same cloak as the other regal looking three was revealed.

The three were made up of a man wearing an orange spiral patterned mask with a single eyehole under which lurked the unmistakable three tomoe red of the Sharingan. To his left sat a spiky orange-haired man with light purple rippled eyes, pale skin, three studs going down either side of his nose, six more along his ears like earrings and two more under his bottom lip. The last was a young woman with blue hair with a relatively sized blue origami flower worn as a pin atop it, amber eyes with lavender eye shadow and a labret piercing under her bottom lip. They all brought their gazes toward the man who had fully dislodged himself from the ground and he was not alone.

The half-black and half-white skinned man had his hand on the shoulder of a boy with spiky blond hair, deep sapphire blue eyes, three facial marks on each cheek resembling whiskers and clad in a grotesque and bloody jumpsuit looking worse for wear. His skin was slightly pale as if he had just undergone a horrifying experience. The three quickly noted the boy's headband silently.

"Zetsu, what is this? Why did you bring the boy here?" The masked man inquired in a deep voice lined with perfectly concealed confusion.

"Ah yes, during his battle with Sasuke he lost a loved one." Naruto's eyes dropped at that but he was surprised by the change in the man's voice from gruff and deep to soft and childlike, almost playful. The orange-masked man's eye slowly tugged into a narrow-eyes stare as if he was contemplating something. His gaze roamed Naruto in an inspective manner as he listened to the strange being's explanation, "**So we asked him if he would like to join and he agreed.**" The man finished in the deeper voice Naruto was familiar with.

"So you thought his pain would make him one of us, correct Zetsu?" The orange-haired man queried in a calm manner as he too stared at Naruto with a piercing stare, to which the creature simply nodded. While the orange-masked man's stare reeked of curiosity and was somewhat a measuring stare, the other man's was simply just what it was, an empty stare. His eyes were not particularly looking for anything interesting about Naruto but were just peering straight through him. The man was not even blinking and it unnerved Naruto to a great degree but he held himself composedly. He had come here to escape his demons and he would not be crumble before some weird eyed gaze.

The young woman's eyes roamed Naruto in an examining stare, taking in his form and stance with a careful and scrutinizing eye. There was something striking about his bright blond spiky hair, his saddened yet determined blue eyes. Her amber coloured orbs gradually widened as something about Naruto's familiarity struck a painful chord within her heart. However her mask of nonchalance never wavered and nobody picked up on it.

Strangely though, Naruto had picked up on the widening of her eyes due to how he was casting a well hidden gaze at everyone as they stared and talked about him as if he was not there.

The masked man hummed to himself thoughtfully, "What you did was dangerous Zetsu. Konoha will throw a fit once they realise the boy is missing. Remember the Sannin has been snooping around."

At the mention of that word Naruto's head perked up in interest as wonder filled his soulless eyes. He did wonder which Sannin they had to be referring to. He was not blind to the fact that he was within the Akatsuki's lair and what was worse was that he had no idea how they travelled to get there. It was so fast that the man had melded with the earth and after a while of silent travel they emerged here, before these three strange figures who appeared to be the leaders of this whole organisation. His moment of weakness had compelled him to agree to come with the man, in an effort to save himself the shame of his deeds, of his failure. He had no real bearing of the Akatsuki's intentions, only what he was told by Jiraiya but after the man's promise, he had fallen for it.

"Uh oh," the white half uttered childishly but it was the black half that moved to answer the question, "**We made sure no one would know. To Konoha, the boy is dead. They have a corpse to prove it.**" The darker half of the being answered, staring at the masked man with its pupil less yellow eye.

The masked man chuckled darkly at that revelation, already having pieced together what the white and black halved man must have done, "That was quite clever Zetsu. However I must say I'm surprised by your insistence, have you grown soft Zetsu?" The man asked with a smirk on his face to which the dark green-haired creature just smirked at those words from the man.

"**No, I just recognize the potential in the boy. This boy displayed an incredible usage of Mokuton. He managed to supress the Nine-tails' Chakra**," Zetsu proclaimed to which everyone's heads perked up in interest, particularly that of the masked man whose eyes glinted with a terrible degree of cunningness, "I am sure that give the chance, the boy will impress us all." The white half of Zetsu concluded with a nod of the head.

"Hmm, is that so?" The spiky orange-haired man questioned calmly with not an ounce of the interest his voice dripped on his perfectly aloof visage as his eyes momentarily went toward the black and white halved being who nodded.

Naruto did not like it. The way they just spoke about him as if he was not there but he also did not care either. His hands were stained with so much blood he could not repress the shiver that ran down his spine. Sakura…

Suddenly he was back at the valley yet again, flying at Sasuke with his Rasengan. He struck and his eyes widened at whom his ball of compressed Chakra grinded into. Her lush green orbs were horrifically wide, her mouth open in silent shock. Although he could not see her, he could imagine that was how she looked. The images and memory were so vivid and deeply entrenched in his mind. Even when he had closed his eyes as he was about to tear into her back with his Rasengan when she jumped to intercept him and Sasuke, he could still mentally imagine the disappointment, betrayal and hatred that must have sketched upon her face. At last it had happened.

He had become the monster he had been trying to deny he was by killing the one person he claimed to love.

Naruto's breathing became laboured as he trembled. If only he had been stronger he could have stopped Sasuke, could have stopped himself and saved Sakura from the scathing and blood-curdling death they had dealt her. Ultimately he had been the one to hold her as the last bit of warmth disappeared from her eyes, to see the eyes that he always melted within wide with horror and shock before all life disappeared from them. He could not forget her unblinking, dull and dead eyes staring back at him, reminding him of his actions. Her blood was all over his hands.

The blood pumping through his veins seemed to have disappeared and Naruto looked like a walking corpse. Cold sweat helped itself down his face, his bloodied hands trembled insanely and Naruto appeared mentally, emotionally and physically fatigued and as if he would drop the next second and that was exactly what he did, surprising the four around him as he collapsed, falling prey to the waves of guilt, sorrow, exhaustion, and self-loathing that had plagued him ever since he had shoved a Rasengan into Sakura.

"What is wrong him?" He heard but everything was a blur as he finally succumbed to unconsciousness. The one who had asked was the young woman, who was staring confusedly at the blond.

"**It must be the exhaustion coupled with the effects of post dramatic stress disorder**," The others raised their eyebrows at the plant-like being, waiting for his elaboration, "He accidentally killed his female teammate who jumped in the way of his and Sasuke's Jutsu." The white half answered with some measure of exaggerated sadness on its pallid white face.

"And now the guilt is gnawing away at him, I see." The orange-masked man said strangely in a slightly more sombre tone of voice.

"What should we do now? He does not look well." Zetsu gazed toward the woman. Konan was her name and he inwardly smirked. She appeared concerned, well as concerned as she could appear with that expression of nonchalance on her face. It was what he wished, for them to welcome Naruto, to feel pity for him, because he shared a fate similar to their own. They were all fools, utter fools.

"Take him to one of the empty chambers," The masked man ordered of the black and white halved man who merely gave a nod before he scooped the unconscious Naruto up, "Tomorrow, we will talk with him."

Once the plant-like man had left the three to their thoughts the masked man turned to his fellows.

"What do you think?" The spiky black-haired man queried his fellow members, his deep voice floating calmly within the silent walls that surrounded them.

"I agree, with his Mokuton I would prefer him on our side for the time being. I am quite sure that would smooth things up for us once we begin the hunt."

"Hmm," The masked man mused loudly with his hand on the area of his mask where his chin would be situated, "Who will train him then? And he will be without the ring unless we can retrieve the one that snake Orochimaru has stolen." The black-haired man concluded as he gazed questioningly at his fellows.

"As of this moment it is of no significance. We still have a few years more until we begin the hunt. We will pursue the ring once we have need of it." The Rinnegan bearing man said calmly as he gazed impassively at his compatriots, "For now let Orochimaru fool himself into believing he has derailed our plans. We will crush him when the time comes." The spiral masked man nodded as he found that thought from the other man to be sensible.

Konan was silent throughout the whole ordeal. She wasn't worried about either of her male counterparts calling her on it because she spoke very little during their meetings. There had been something about that boy that boy which disturbed her. On the outside she was attentive of course, but on the inside her head was still swirling with thoughts of how much a boy who until a few minutes ago was to be her future prey, enemy looked so much like someone she'd rather forget simply because it was painful to do so. She had suppressed whatever emotions she had, burying them deep down behind the impenetrable mask of calmness but she still could not help but be startled by the resemblance between the two. It was slightly disturbing but she dismissed it for now.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Revelations: The Mystery of Naruto's death**

**Not exactly the way I would've liked to do it but I am just glad to be back to Requiem for sorrow. I appreciate reviews, every writer does and it is what keeps us writing so please review what you thought of the chapter. **

**Immortal out…**


	4. Revealed Prophecies

**Disclaimer: I never will own Naruto, this is my final Disclaimer. **

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**I apologize for my absence, but if you read my note from TWOSH, you would know that I had been an extremely busy man. I got dumped in December, and on top of that I had a novel, consultations with publishers, editors who are helping me out (still are) to focus on while also not pushing the ideas of my fan fiction out of my mind. I am back though, and regular updates will soon follow from now on.**

**Well, here is the next chapter and although i am not sure about the quality of it, i ask you be the judge to it by leaving a review. I greatly appreciate them...**

**The Imortal is back...**

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**●Chapter 2: Revealed Prophecies**●

* * *

●**Konoha**

Rain, the harsh tears of the heavens which seemed especially grumpy with the looming blanket of dark clouds obscuring the ever bright sun poured down upon the bowed heads of a cluster of black clad solemn figures.

They were unmoving, with eyes fixed upon the giant slab of stone before them standing impassive and unperturbed as one would expect of a stone, but this was not just any ordinary stone, it was a memorial stone. The monolith, as always was the centre of attention as it had welcomed two more additions to the already staggering scribbles of names decorating it.

All was silent as one would expect of a memorial event, bar the light tapping of the shower of rain against the ground and the choked sobs of sorrow coming from some of those in the group, especially the youth, the standouts being a sea blues eyed blond girl, the boy with the bowl haircut who normally fashioned himself in green who shook violently, tears mixed with rain shamelessly pouring down his face and the pale eyed Hyuuga heiress who seemed to have not slept a day but somehow she was in a slightly better state than her tears smeared peers or the younger trio of kids standing next to a sorrowful brown-haired man with a kindly face and a scar above the bridge of his nose, who consoled the three youths. They all wore the dreaded blacks as they stood still, to send off and pay their respects to their fallen comrades.

The veterans who had been in situations as this one countless other times before had reclined to merely paying their respect for the deceased in silence. They were far too weary and familiar with death that they had built immunity to the shock of the situation, considering that it was the future of the village they were bidding a rushed farewell to but that did not make the loss any less painful than it already was. It was hard however on the youth - those familiar with the two Genin, whom went through childhood with both, stumbled into their prepubescent stages with and became Ninja of Konoha together- a worthy honour. For them, none of this was fair. It was unfathomable that such a fate could be dealt to their promising, yet still naïve and innocent group but it was the unspoken truth of their profession, that all this was normal, Shinobi die. Young or old made no difference if you are serving in the line of duty. There you were a warrior, not a man or a woman, but a warrior who dies trying to do what was best for their village.

Among the group in front was a broken Kakashi, a stoic Tsunade with clenched teeth and a taut jaw. Next to her, spiky white hair wild and tied back in a long spiky ponytail stood a tall man with an equally perplexing expression on his visage, displaying and procuring such raw emotion even the hardest of men would recoil if they caught his gaze. He had never imagined he would return to this. The news he had received upon his return startled him and a dark, well of disbelief enveloped him, threatening to drown him no sooner had he felt a deep sinking feeling at the pit of his gut.

Naruto-

Whatever had transpired, all Jiraiya knew was that he had not upon his return been met with the bright and smiling face of Naruto but a pale empty shell of what remained of his pupil. It was utterly despicable and the assailant had not been caught for the terrible crime. The Shinobi world appeared to be suffocating in its own hatred and many were caught within the backlash of it all.

Jiraiya entertained the thought of true peace, a goal he had sought to pass on to Naruto and just as quickly, such thoughts were quelled with harsh efficiency. If such a mundane notion as peace existed, Naruto would be alive, and so would Naruto and Minato. Hatred, deception and pain governed their dark world, not peace. Naruto's dreams were crushed in a cruel manner and it puzzled him how unmoved he was by Naruto's death however, the pain and the gut-wrenching guilt was there, lurking disturbingly in the dark recesses of his heart but there lay another equally irreplaceable feeling, denial it was-

His heart refused the notion of accepting Naruto's fate. It seemed inconceivable that Naruto would go in such a manner, no struggle, no fireworks and no…Kyuubi. It all seemed suspicious to Jiraiya.

One thing was for sure, he was going to turn the earth upside down to get to the bottom of this…not forgetting to skin a treacherous snake as well.

* * *

●"**Unknown Location"**

Blue unfocused eyes stared at the uninteresting ceiling above, simply made from spiky rock and lacking any creativity at all. Perhaps that was because it was not a ceiling but rather the natural surface of the cavern wall above him serving as a ceiling

The chamber was dark and he lay on a hard, thin mattress, feeling the biting fingers of the cold stone surface caressing his spine. But he had not raised any complains about the sleeping conditions passed on to him or the chamber he had been assigned to, if anything partly due to the fact that he had been out of it when he was brought in. in fact he was still in his bloody, smelly clothing but they had at least, in their 'kindness', removed the orange jacket which was drenched with dried blood – Sakura's blood, and he now remained in his black undershirt, the gleaming green necklace resting against his chest.

The dark atmosphere of the room was slightly disheartening and uncomfortable but it provided the optimum setting for engaging in deep thinking.

Hands behind his back with eyes digging into the ceiling, Naruto briefly toyed with the thought of how Konoha was taking everything, including of course…his 'death'. They were probably celebrating his demise, it was not a secret many of them despised him but at this moment he could not bring himself to care. Still, he was impressed with Zetsu's work in cloning him to drop. Though he still spared a brief thought Jiraiya and Tsunade and what about Kakashi-sensei? They surely would all be disappointed with him, failing a mission, playing a hand, literally, in Sakura's death and then 'dying'. He was sure if he went back they were going to reject him, feel ashamed of him, even Iruka and the Rookie Nine and Gai's team. Somehow his successes always faded into the background and his failures always remained in the foreground and the retrieval mission was his greatest failure. He had failed not only the mission, but his team, his friends, but more than anything, himself. Perhaps he was wrong and they would be willing to forgive him and accept him, and his failures. After all, they had before but could he turn back and now? The reason he was here was because he believed he could have Sakura back, even at the cost of his soul.

He was roused from his spiral of thoughts as the stony door to his new sleeping chambers groaned before opening to reveal the blue-haired stoic woman from the day before. She was the same as she was yesterday, unreadable and exuding a repelling chilly aura. Her amber eyes flew to him as she laid her gaze upon him and tossed a black folded bundle at him, "Get dressed. Pein-sama would like to see you." Came the curt command before she left without another word.

Well, she had not even said 'good morning' but Naruto supposed complaining would accomplish nothing here, after all she did not seem to be the type to care about mundane things and obviously she did not care about common courtesy either. Maybe that was how they said 'good morning' in the Akatsuki. Well whatever…

He was also slightly relieved she hadn't stayed behind to watch him dress; he still had insecurities over his body.

Naruto pulled himself off of the bed, sparing an observant glance at the black cloak on his bed. It was black obviously, with the same red hemlines but without the custom red clouds one associated with the traditional Akatsuki robe made notorious by Itachi and Kisame.

A wry smile split across Naruto's lips as he lifted his arms up and into the large baggy sleeves of the robe. Whoever thought, that he would one day don an Akatsuki robe? Definitely none in their right mind.

* * *

●**Myobokuzan**

Jiraiya stood amidst the sacred toad clan village, dazed and confused. After the ceremony he had wandered the village when out of a sudden, a violent tug on his form and he was here. The tall fountain worked some metres away from him while other toads laboured about, staring at him and waving to him as they walked past him. He looked around, checking to see his reverse summoner until he heard the clearing of the throat from behind.

Swivelling around, the white-haired Sannin was met with a rather aged green toad of small stature. The white Mohawk styled hair stood proudly atop its head with a small goatee. Jiraiya smiled, it was the sagely Fukasaku. The sage toad did not return his smile, in fact there was this grim air surrounding him and his thick eyebrows were gnashed together into a thick frown. The smile slid off Jiraiya's face and the toad sage adopted a serious expression, "what is it Pa?"

The green toad turned around and began walking away, "**Come. The Great Toad Sage has a prophecy for you**." Fukasaku called out to the man.

Jiraiya blinked in surprise. This meant that a vision had happened and the Eldest of the toads saw something, but what could it be? And how serious was it that he had been jerked suddenly to Myobokuzan?

Jiraiya shook his head before he obediently followed the toad, a frown marring his face as well now. They navigated through the village, before at last they came upon an area where a giant toad was seated inside a shallow pool of sorts, scrolls lining the whole place around him. A kanji for sage was inscribed on the pool holder. The great brown toad Gamamaru, who sat on the throne-like surrounding, did not seem to notice their presence due to his heavily squinted eyes. His lips soon contorted into an aged smile, showing he knew that Fukasaku and Jiraiya had arrived, how he had seen them with his eyes squinted as heavily as they were remained a mystery to Jiraiya, one he had given up trying to unravel.

"**Ah Fukasaku, I see you have returned**." Gamamaru said softly.

"**Yes, I've brought Jiraiya-boy, as you asked**." Fukasaku said as he motioned to the white-haired Sannin who was by his side.

Gamamaru tilted his tasselled, hat-bearing head to get a good look at Jiraiya through squinted eyes before a smile broke on his face, "**Jiraiya is it? Jiraiya…where have I heard that name before?**" The aged great toad questioned himself loudly.

"**He is the one you were going to give a prophecy. The**…" Fukasaku stared at Jiraiya apologetically, "**perverted one**." Jiraiya groaned.

"**Oh yes, yes. Jiraiya, he who will nurture the child of prophecy**." Now that he had been reminded of a certain few things old age always took from him, Gamamaru finally recognised the Sannin.

"**Yes, now will you tell him the prophecy already?**" Fukasaku said annoyed at the smiling elder of the toads.

"**Yes, hmm**…" Gamamaru went silent in thought as if he was searching his mind for what he wished to tell Jiraiya, "**The prophecy it is**." He repeated to himself, "**I saw the boy, the one in the prophecies of old, a prophecy which I had forgotten that I had told to a young man with powerful eyes a long time ago. A prophecy about a rambunctious, troublemaking boy who would save the world**," The old toad said, Jiraiya and Fukasaku listening on with interest and sharp ears to his words. A sigh escaped his smiling lips as just the barest of a frown could be seen marring his wrinkled visage, "**That Prophecy which I now recall with such accuracy has turned dark. Darkness, blood and conquest are what the world is set for. The boy has turned destroyer**…"

"What do you mean? Which boy is this because the last person I thought to be the one is dead." Jiraiya, in a fit of confusion asked.

Gamamaru opened his eyes, a rare sight in of itself to stare at Jiraiya, "**It is the boy who ran from the darkness in his heart so that he could be a saviour**. **Dark red clouds loom over him and the moon's nefarious stare is firmly upon him**." Jiraiya appeared further confused while Fukasaku had his eyes narrowed as his mind worked on piecing things together, "**This time, he is not running from the darkness nor is he denying it. It is a long shadow with ten tails which has swallowed him**."

"You said a rambunctious, troublemaking boy?" Jiraiya asked with narrowed eyes, grim lines stretching his temples and above them. "Do you mean Naruto? I don't understand because Naruto is gone, he was killed by Sasuke Uchiha." It was ridiculous to Jiraiya of course but everything that Gamamaru had said pointed in that direction, that Naruto could be alive and was in the prophesies long before even the birth of Nagato or Minato and even Himself.

The two toads were silent before Fukasaku stared at Jiraiya with stern eyes, "**Naruto-boy, your latest apprentice did not die in that battle. His name is still on our summoning stone**."

Those words froze Jiraiya instantly. He felt elation and worry both at the same time. Elation because his apprentice and Godson may possibly still be alive and worry that he was alive and out there, with the Akatsuki and all and now with this new disturbing prophecy. It did not help that Gamamaru's prophecies were usually vague to all but him but Jiraiya knew that it was Naruto that everything all pointed to. He struggled to compose himself; his words were stuck on his tongue, his palms sweating while his heart pounded uncontrollably, "If Naruto is indeed alive and the one in the prophecy? Then what am I to do to stop him?"

Gamamaru shook his head apologetically, **"There is nothing you can do to stop him. He will spare the world by his own accord. However when the time comes, he will come to you." **

Fukasaku brought his gaze back to Jiraiya, the hardness in it yet to abate**, "That means you will have to be prepared, because he will come…to kill you." **

* * *

A now clothed Naruto walked toward the door, fashioned in the dark baggy robe. He still had his previous clothes underneath, dirty as they were. Pulling the door open he walked out and was met with the same woman standing outside his door patiently. Her eyes roamed over him before she turned away, "Follow me." She said and Naruto complied.

A woman of very few words…Naruto thought.

She was very withdrawn and nothing ever really seemed to surprise, excite or even interest her. She was like a rock, which really could not get any emotional. But still, Naruto thought that she was not very bad or evil. She just minded her own business or that was what he gathered from her. His observant skills were not really that good but he had tried.

He halted his thoughts to stare at the woman walking in front of him. Her feet were light against the ground and she was fairly comfortable in her poise and walk. She seemed stealthy, deadly but her impassive eyes also held a stubborn, distrustful colour to them. She was beautiful also, that fact he had noticed almost instantly the day before and Naruto wondered what her reasons for joining the Akatsuki could be? Perhaps she was a missing Ninja? Her headband was slashed, alluding to that thought, although he was not familiar with the village sign engraved on it.

The two of them continued walking down a narrow hallway, framed by dark stone walls on either side. The silence was deafening and the light steps of their feet were only making Naruto nervous as they went farther into the other side of this perplexing long hallway. He did not know who this Pein was and he could be some madman who would ask the worst of him, or maybe even crazier, with dreams of world domination. The Akatsuki's lair of residence did not do all that much to dissuade him that the leader could be that type of person. Still, he had chosen this path and into the darkness or even hell, he would follow it. After all, it was exactly like that saying that: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

They finally arrived to a wide and spacious room, lit up by a few candles. Konan disappeared inside and Naruto followed. They came upon the standing figure of who Naruto assumed to be Pein and it was the orange-haired aloof with the hard stare and bloodcurdling multiple piercings from the day before. He was facing the opposite direction, eyes closed as their footsteps reached his ears. The room they were in was of a circular shape, with many candles hanging on the stone walls.

Pein turned around to regard the two, while Konan left Naruto's side to stand beside the orange-haired man. Eyes fixed firmly on Naruto that they were almost looking past him, Pein's lips moved, "Do you know what the purpose of the Akatsuki is?" The man questioned softly. There was something in his stare today as he laid eyes on Naruto when he walked in that had not been there the previous day, but it had come and disappeared in a flash. It had been initiated by Naruto's appearance but had just as quickly disappeared.

Of course a confused and negative jerk of the head was the response to the calmly presented question.

"Well then, contrary to what you may have heard, the Akatsuki is dedicated toward salvaging the world," the man began, "We have a plan, to bring an end to the monster that runs this world."

A blond eyebrow went up in some surprise at that revelation. The world was getting stranger it seemed.

Without a moment spared to see whether Naruto was following the man continued, "We do not wish to bring pain to anyone however some will undoubtedly be sacrificed." Naruto was disturbed by those words, partly because of the ease with which the man said them with, "But it will all be instrumental toward the completion of our goal."

"What goal…?" Naruto, already drowning in confusion at the man's words felt the compulsion to ask.

Pein turned around to stare at the light slipping through into the dark room, letting it caress his pale face, "The world is covered in a fog of darkness, and all that stands between outright war is facetious oaths. War, is coming and we hope to control and even end those wars. We are a cure to the disease that is humanity and we will heal all humans of their greatest enemy yet - their hatred."

"But what if people don't wanna be healed of their hatred? What if they like it too much to accept your plan?" Naruto asked darkly. He was surprised himself at his words and he would be even more surprised if he saw the dark look settled upon his own face.

Pein turned around, his hard stare making Naruto seem small, "Then," the man's eyes narrowed on Naruto, "We force it on them."

Naruto's eyes widened and he nearly recoiled at the hard look in Pein's eyes but just as it was there, it was gone an instant later and the man was back to his impassive self. Naruto stared at Konan as he calmed his breathing, "I…I still don't understand. How will you even do that? How does this involve the nine-tails?" the rapid fired questions did not even faze Pein a pinch.

"The tailed beasts." Konan answered.

"What?" a confused Naruto asked.

Konan firmed her amber eyes on Naruto, "There are nine tailed-beasts in the Ninja world," she began in a calmed tone of voice making sure that Naruto followed, "Yours, the Kyuubi is the ninth and most powerful, while eight others are held by each of the five Shinobi nations." Naruto nodded, understanding that bit and Konan, still impassive as ever continued, "We will capture all of them to form the Ten-tails, the Bijuu the tailed beasts were formed from."

"And thus with it, we will usher in a new era;" Pein said briskly, "There will be no more pointless suffering, orphaned children or even sorrow such as the pain of losing a friend. What we will achieve will set the world on a better path, in which when the dust settles, all shall know peace."

"But how will you control this Ten-tails beast?" Naruto asked; he had more questions still than answers. Pein's goals were dangerous and even preposterous to Naruto.

"That is for another time." The man dismissed with the utmost calm tone one can manage.

Naruto kept silent for a while, digging into his bag of questions to find the appropriate one to present to the man. "Peace huh?" Naruto mumbled dubiously to himself, "I don't even know what that is. But I still don't understand how you plan to heal people of their hatred and still bring peace. Isn't this peace?" Naruto asked, doing a gesture with his hand to refer to their current time or situation. His eyebrows were scrunched up in confusion as he awaited a response from the man who seemed content with bidding his time and stretching Naruto's rather naturally thin patience.

"Yes, it is," Pein replied simply before he moved toward Naruto who felt a vein twitch in his leg, yelling at him to move back, but he held his ground and stood, although Pein did not even seem impressed or maybe the man was incapable of expression. The man stopped before Naruto, his taller form dwarfing the shorter boy's while his eyes pierced through Naruto, "But how long will it last?" Pein questioned Naruto who had no response to give the man.

"The last time, this 'peace' lasted fifteen years before the third Shinobi world war broke out and the previous lasted a mere twenty." Naruto's eyes left Pein's to trace the ground, "War IS coming, and the five great villages will once more be at odds with each other and Jinchuuriki will participate in that war, which could possibly bring about the end of the Shinobi world."

"So then tell me, what would happen if they are not stopped?" Pein queried, waiting with interest to hear Naruto's answer. He did not have to wait long.

"But Konoha would never do that!" Naruto shouted, staring at Pein with fierce eyes that were filled more than anything, with his own denial. He did not want to believe that Konoha would involve Jinchuuriki in the war but if the other nations did, wouldn't they also? However more than anything, he did not want to believe Konoha could participate in anything that would bring about an end to millions of lives but what if there was a side to Konoha that he never knew?

Pein merely stared at the fuming blonde with an impassive gaze, eyes digging into the blonde's form and drawing an involuntary flinch from Naruto as the adrenaline of his outburst left him, and he could now feel the scathing glare of Pein's rippled eyes, "You seem certain." He said, his lips moving mechanically at every word. He spun around to focus his gaze back on the dark walls around them, "Your blatant worship of Konoha is as commendable as it is foolish but then why are you here and not back there? Ask yourself that?" The man stated tersely, his words startling Naruto for some reason or the other.

Naruto's shoulders sagged, the blond feeling very small under the intense, unyielding gaze of the Akatsuki leader's. Every word that came out of the man's mouth just further sprinkled shrinking dust upon his form and he was struggling to come up with any rational arguments to this perfect machine that was Pein. The man did not pause to think, to even mull over something, or even consider something that Naruto countered with. "Your pain brought you to us. The loss you suffered. Your whole life you have been an outcast, a reject, filth in the face of many feeble-minded men who misunderstood your existence and a weapon in the eyes of those who did. Your becoming Jinchuuriki was not mere circumstance, it was premeditated. You were chosen to be an asset to Konoha, a weapon to be used in times of war. A tool…"

'A tool…'

Those words rung loudly in Naruto's mind, repeatedly resonated within his head as they had done so mere months ago but what made them differently this time was not because he was hearing them for a second time, but because they made perfect sense, as they had back then. This time, they were deeper and immediately Gaara's face flashed past his eyes.

A tool… Haku's face immediately sprung to mind at the thought of those words. Perhaps he had been right and like Gaara, he had been made Jinchuuriki to serve as Konoha's sword, a mass murderer without choice and knowing only destruction and bringing death and pain to others. He did not know, nothing made sense to him any longer. Could Konoha truly ask that of him, make him a monster just so that he could destroy their enemies or win them wars?

"Now then I ask you, are you with us?" Pein's voice knocked Naruto out of his thoughts.

Sakura –

Naruto knew all this was as much for her as it was his guilt and shame driving him away. Still, he had chosen to follow in order to get her back and was he ready to join the Akatsuki just so he could? He had doubts, Pein had been frank with him and had not lied about what the Akatsuki stood for but now came the moment of truth, making a choice. He clenched his fist tightly, his jaw snapping shut at his uselessness. He had to, even at the cost of his own soul. Even if the devil claimed his soul, Naruto lifted his face, his hardened blue orbs meeting Pein's rippled ones, "Yes, I will become Akatsuki." The blond declared.

* * *

●**Konoha, Cemetery**

Kakashi Hatake was a well-known reclusive individual, even among the unsociable populace of Shinobi. However what most did not know, in part due to a lack of knowledge or particular care, was that Kakashi was a man with much more issues than the normal Ninja.

A face wiped of emotion was a familiar feature to associate with the legendary Copy Ninja; however there was something distinctly remote and unfamiliar about the blank expression on Kakashi's face on this day. There was not a glimmer of emotion in his lone visible dark eye. For a man who was rarely roused by anything, who did not socialise that much and kept to himself, Kakashi found himself yearning for company not to talk him but that physical presence or else he would drown in his own sorrow and this time, never truly return but a better part of him fought against that need. Shame, he felt great shame and his mind and heart were not exactly helping, prodding him in the direction he had sworn on his dignity he would never turn – seppuku.

Even if death had not come to him physically, its calloused hands ran down his spine emotionally and nothing could rouse him, nothing was interesting. Nothing was…worth living for anymore. His shame had dragged him back here to the cemetery, where he would drown in his misery. He had been at the cemetery for two straight days, without moving an inch from where he stood, without any small twitch of his muscles or any effort to blink his already blackened insomniac eyes. Nothing could move him from his emotional death, in which he burned in his own hell of regret, gnawing guilt, shame and anger.

He did not even register the ANBU land behind him as his face remained as it was, unperturbed and uncaring.

"Kakashi-san!" The Anbu began, "Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately." The Anbu said professionally.

His answer never came…

Kakashi just remained as he had been, not moving at all nor acknowledging the summons from the Anbu behind him. The masked man cleared his throat loudly which wasn't really ANBU stuff but he figured he could improvise but Kakashi stood exactly how he had been found, worrying the man. With narrowed eyes, the masked man moved forward, circling Kakashi and doing an examination of the statuesque Kakashi whose eyes never blinked.

It was almost like the man was dead, but the feel of his distressed Chakra said otherwise. The experience and sight was a bit overwhelming for the Anbu who had heard stories about Kakashi, but couldn't quite hide the shock that came from seeing the state that the man revered as the Copy Ninja and often and often called the friend-killer within their division because of his dark reputation and the rumours that he disposed of his friends on missions. This before him was a different man, it had to be. How else could he explain it? This picture of Kakashi contrasted the one painted about him by a mile. This man was broken…

The man blinked before he shook his head, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

**Hokage Tower**

A sudden whirlwind disrupted Tsunade from her very dark thoughts and her previous impatience as she awaited Kakashi and the Anbu she had sent to summon him arrive.

Finally, she sighed. However her relief soon gave way to confusion as only the porcelain masked operative appeared, without a Cyclops in sight or by his side. The masked man thrust his knee into the ground in a bow. "Where is Kakashi? Did I not tell you to bring him here?" Tsunade questioned with a voice laced with annoyance and rightfully so as she had been trying to get a hold of the copy nin for days now but he never bothered to come.

The Anbu just lowered his head even lower. Their Godaime was well-known for her ferocious temper and he certainly did not wish to end up on the wrong side of it, "I'm afraid he's…unresponsive Hokage-sama." The man finished, unsure of himself and his own words. However unresponsive felt appropriate enough to use in this case.

Tsunade stood up with her brows mashed together in barely veiled anger. She was now sick of Kakashi and his antics and this time she would deal with him….herself. "Where is he?" Tsunade asked.

"The cemetery," Came the brisk response from the man.

Tsunade grabbed her white GI and left the room with stalking steps, leaving a relieved and confused Anbu knelt behind, who cringed internally at the thought of what Kakashi would be served.

**With Tsunade**

Tsunade stiffly walked amidst the streets leading to the cemetery on the other side of the village, everyone doing all they could to avoid and move out of her way, her off-putting aura and tight jaw and fists sending warning signs to all that she was not in her better moods. It had been a while since Tsunade had actually bothered with taking a walk around the village. In fact she rarely ever does. Rather ironic, considering that she was the Hokage and had to 'mingle' with the people and roam around the village every once in a while but that was not exactly her style and all knew it. That in her mind was for silly old men seeking a daily escape from the ever-present torture of paperwork. Still, she too could feel the tight knots in her bones and she could not deny that age was finally catching up to her, but she would never tell anyone that and anyone who tried to remind her that would suffer the wrath of her fists and besides, none had the balls to do so, except…Naruto.

She sighed wearily as sadness tugged at her face. Naruto was gone now, there was no use reminiscing about what he did or opening up raw, emotional wounds which would take years to heal. As the cemetery drew closer Tsunade could feel her anger returning tenfold. Brushing by a few trees as the scenery changed to a greener one filled with trees on all sides. The soft grass was soft under her feet as the trees ebbed away to reveal the wide tract of land where the cemetery was, and her eyes could spot a lone figure in the distance.

Eyes hardening and her crackling knuckles balling into a tight hostile fist, she stalked the silver-haired man a distance ahead of her. She stomped right up to Kakashi, spinning him around without effort and grabbing him by the front of his dirty flak and she glowered at him with red eyes. But there was no one there. Kakashi felt lax against her tight hands. His eyes were on the ground and there they remained.

Tsunade felt all her strength leave her but she still socked the man in the stomach, who just fell to the ground with a soft groan. He lay on the ground and stayed there, eyes gazing up at the sky.

"What have you been doing with the team all along? Teaching them to kill each other with A-rank assassination moves?" Tsunade shouted at Kakashi, "Give me one reason Kakashi, one good reason why I shouldn't demote you right now and remove you from the Shinobi roster."

Her response, ergo, reason never came. Kakashi just stared lifelessly at nothing, almost as if he cared about nothing any longer. Not his pride, not his career, simply nothing. That angered Tsunade though; she wanted Kakashi to take responsibility for what had happened but was that not unfair? She had sent Naruto on the mission – well not technically because Shikamaru picked him for it but she knew he would go because it was Sasuke. Thus it was on her conscience as well, but she did not entertain that notion, to her Kakashi failed his team and this was going on his record.

"Tsunade!" just when she was ready to snap, Jiraiya's strong voice interjected. The white-haired Sannin stood a few metres away from their position, a frown marring his visage, "You're being unreasonable. You can't demote Kakashi because he is not at fault and we both know it. Blaming him or anyone won't bring them back."

Tsunade turned her glare to her former teammate, "Jiraiya," she hissed angrily, "You don't tell me what to do. I'm the Hokage of this village. I decide what I want to do with Shinobi under MY command and Kakashi is most certainly unfit for the role of Jonin Sensei."

Jiraiya wasn't particularly impressed by her words if the hardening of his eyes was any indication; his intense glare surprising the blond, "And don't forget who put you in that position. It wasn't to become this bitter old woman who abuses her power." Jiraiya replied strongly. He usually never used such a forceful tone against Tsunade but sometimes she could be stubborn and forget that he was not a child to be talked down to.

Her shoulders sagged at those words and her breath trembled. A twinkle shone in her eyes which she could just not will away. Jiraiya lowered his stare to the silent and still grounded Kakashi, "Plus, I'm not sure if Naruto is truly dead yet." Kakashi turned his neck to stare properly at the white-haired man whose words shocked even Tsunade.

"Wh-what do you mean Jiraiya?" Tsunade stammered out her question, her brown eyes wide as saucers, "Tell me Jiraiya!" she nearly shouted in impatience, while Kakashi himself appeared equally interested in Jiraiya's response, finally awake after a while from his emotional incapacitation.

Jiraiya looked between Kakashi and Tsunade seriously before his eyes rested on Tsunade once more, "Naruto's name is still on the summoning contract in Myobokuzan."

The sudden gasp from Tsunade was long anticipated by both males. Kakashi himself could've done the same but his voice had left him due to the fact that he had rarely spoken to anyone for days. Tsunade however did not need to be told twice: "What? Then that means…"

"That he is not really dead. What we buried wasn't Naruto." The worried and tense aura surrounding Jiraiya was not missed by both Kakashi and Tsunade. They rarely got to see Jiraiya in such a serious mood but they knew that the man did not joke about such things. He knew more than they or most people did after all.

"Then who…what was it?" was Kakashi's whispered question. The man dragged himself up into a sitting position, Tsunade's eyes flickering over to him briefly.

"I don't know, but it was no ordinary clone. In fact everything about it was Naruto, except the part of the seal." Jiraiya closed his eyes as he could feel the short silence weigh over the group, the curiosity of his comrades almost palpable, "But that's not worries me. Two days ago I was summoned to Myobokuzan by the toads. The Great Elder Gamamura revealed a prophecy to me."

"A prophecy?" She asked curiously before she rolled her eyes, "Oh please Jiraiya don't tell me you still believe in all that nonsense." Tsunade scoffed at the man's words.

Jiraiya just shrugged off her derision with, his face remaining blank and stern as it had been when he revealed himself, "In this case I have to. It seems dark days are ahead for all of us. I'm not sure but i can only assume Akatsuki took Naruto because he spoke of red clouds and a darkness looming over Naruto."

"Then we have to do something Jiraiya. They will kill him for the Kyuubi if we don't."

"No they won't and I'm still not sure. Naruto could've run away by himself also. After all, we found a Rasengan wound on the girl's body." Jiraiya reminded both of them and immediately their eyes fell. Of course only they and a few knew about that but they had filed it into the back of their minds partly because they did not wish to think about it. The mark was there, on Sakura's back, a spiral of something fierce having torn into her viciously. They did not want to imagine that Naruto could have done it, and because of the gaping hole on her chest, it was all forgotten for the notorious Chidori mark.

"They both killed her." Kakashi suddenly said, snapping the attention of both Sannin to himself.

"Who?" Tsunade asked confused.

"Naruto and Sasuke. I saw the marks on her body when I retrieved the bodies. Naruto loved her, so I think he ran away." Kakashi added in a voice no more than a whisper, his eyes solemn and on the ground. All of their eyes fell to the ground at that. Silence fell over the group at those words. They knew that seeing Sakura die by his hand would indeed drive Naruto to extremes but this was unexpected or was it? His goal was to protect his friends after all but seeing one die, in which he actually delivered the blow himself, would devastate him. It was just surprising because Naruto was not normally a coward who feared facing up to his actions but he was a boy, and he did what any irrational boy would've done in his situation, run away. He had enough reason to flee but why did it feel off to them?

Tsunade covered herself with her long arms, her vulnerability open to show partly because she did not care she exposed herself or how much the whole situation was affecting her, "Then what do we do? If the reckless brat is out there by himself, then he is in more trouble than he would be had he returned."

Jiraiya clenched his hand into a tight fist, lifting his face up to stare into the outskirts of the vegetation enclosed village, "We find him before they do."

* * *

**Whew, this chapter was way hard to write than I thought it would initially be. But I am proud of myself because I managed to get it done in a mere two days. Well, I finalised what I wished to in Konoha with this chapter. Now they know that Naruto is alive and out there. You have gotten the gist of the reactions, the sorrow, the feelings and now we will move on to Naruto's days with the Akatsuki which will form a pivotal part in the next few chapters and just to let you know, this story will overlap into Shippuden far sooner than my other stories because of how close to Naruto leaving I started it. So we will get a time-skip and then…action. **

**Please Read &amp; Review. **

**Immortal Out… **


	5. The Baptism in Murder

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it's not mine.**

* * *

**After suffering some heartbreak with the next chapter of TOWSH, I decided to come back to this story and it will now see a lot more updates as I take a break from The One Who Saw Hell. Progress will be slow but the story will slowly but surely pick up in a few chapters, until I give the time-skip.**

**Konan will be as much a part of this story as Naruto. I've never liked how many have been afraid to go into Konan's mind and tell things from her point of view. I've only seen two stories that have done this enough to capture my attention, namely 'The Last One' and my personal favourite 'Houses of the Holy' by HowdyU (go read it if you haven't). Other stories are cringe-worthy, unless you are a smut fan or like an OC type of Konan. Most authors seem to prefer writing about the younger Konan, less complicated and far less jaded. **

**Anyway, this chapter will expose some few points, namely the nature of leadership in the Akatsuki and something shocking. Drop me a review when you're done. **

* * *

●**Chapter 3: The Baptism in Murder●**

* * *

Naruto thought the Akatsuki cloak was heavy…and itchy. Of course it was but the thought to complain hadn't crossed his mind, after all, he had never complained about a thing in his life because he could never afford to. He was strangely muted, finding himself buried in his thoughts and brooding unhealthily the past couple of weeks. He hadn't been up to much since he arrived, except restricted to the confines of his small suffocating room which allowed in very little sunlight and warmth with the sudden fall of winter. He stewed in the room; pacing, thinking, carving into the walls and feeling the memories of his most recent battle gnaw away at his weary mind. Most strangely, he found himself reading far more than he would've found comfortable had he been in Konoha.

He had a strange feeling he was kept in his room for a reason or to properly peck him toward madness. He felt like it was working. He hadn't seen Zetsu in a week and only Konan visited his quarters to summon him to lunch or supper. He hadn't seen the masked-man too and all this silence and languish was driving him to the hinges of insanity. In his hand was a Kunai, the only one he had. He flicked it in and around his fingers, a look of utter distance and straying imagination about his eyes. Upon his small, thin bed lay open, sprawling scrolls and books. He'd done everything to rid his thought of Sakura and the blood – or more darkly and disturbingly, Sasuke. The blood… There had been so much blood, blood he now saw on his hands, dripping carelessly in ropes of red down the Kunai and his paling fingers. Blood he thought or rather believed he would never wipe away from his conscience. He shrugged away the phantom image of Sakura's horrified expression with an abhorring shrug. He had cried himself to sleep the last few weeks, murmuring 'I'm sorry' under his breath with a haunting raspy voice in his sleep depraved nights. His hands would tremble, almost as if with the guilt of what he'd done and he knew the blood and the guilt itself would never go away.

It was now that he was disillusioned for the second time in his life, of the true life of the Ninja. However he was dealing with everything in a new way. Instead of sleeping or just lying around, he tired himself to sleep by driving his body to the limit and stretching his imperishable stamina with intense physical training. His muscles ached with the effort but it was the best he could do under such confined a space. The next time Konan came he would have to remind himself to request of her a training chamber. Sitting and doing nothing drove him mad and into thinking far too much. He did not want to think. He wanted to forget Sakura, to forget her until it was necessary, to forget his ultimate failure. He smiled bitterly as he remembered the cold words of one Neji Hyūga during the Chūnin Exams finals, words he'd fought tooth and nails to prove wrong his entire life. 'A failure…Always will be a failure. Destiny…' Those words stuck to him now more than ever, driven through his veins with coldness the likeness of the slap of chilling steel. He supposed he had not been in his right mind arguing against Neji, a genius, a Hyūga and trying to convince him of the glaring, indubitable truth. He supposed it had seemed reasonable at the time, what with his then goal to prove everyone wrong and become Hokage and earn respect – a rather simple, uncomplicated goal, right? He now understood why no one had shared his enthusiasm, why Kakashi always seemed persistent in disillusioning him about what it meant to be a true Ninja.

Now, he had failed when it mattered most and a life had been lost – Sakura's life. Such was the life of a Shinobi however. The thought was rather strange to his mind, death that is. It was a strange concept, which he wondered about. He'd never had the time to wonder too much on it, on what it meant to die. He could only guess it was truly painful and strange, but then what? Was it like switching off, a well of emptiness, and nothingness or was there truly the afterlife? Perhaps the reason why people feared it was because it was indeed akin to being switched off. Indeed that could be the harsh reality of it all, and the afterlife was a fantastical, idealistic notion dreamt up by the fearful, insecure mortal who had no bearing of what it meant to die or rather tried to ease people to the issue of dying and avoid chaos. After all death was an injustice men did not deserve…

Regardless, it didn't all matter. Dying was dying, period. He still wasn't sure of exactly what Pein wanted of him, partly because the man had not yet made it clear. He had 'joined' the Akatsuki, but he did not have an assigned role within the system as of yet. Nonetheless, he'd had enough stewing around like an ape.

His thoughts were kept troubled by his apparent new skill. He hadn't had much time to think on it or rather had not given it much thought until recently. He had Mokuton, the legendary bloodline limit of the Shodai Hokage. His heart hadn't soared or done flip flops as most would've expected. Instead he was thinking shrewdly, already measuring the bloodline's worth in the goals he had and how it would serve the Akatsuki. Zetsu had been away for quite a while but he left him in the company of several scrolls and important books. The more he read, the more his mind opened up. It helped that he was privy to knowledge many thirsted for. He wasn't particularly interested in the greatness of Hashirama Senju but the mechanisms of his bloodline and his exploits, particularly his usage of Mokuton to capture all nine Bijuu and disseminate them between the Five Great Shinobi Nations. For that Naruto felt like cursing him, however that level of mastery was what caught the blonde's oddly grounded attention. He'd had no idea before but reading opened his mind to the possibilities, liberated portions of his thought he had never believed existed and filled the gaps left gaping within his mind by his stunted education in the leaf.

Zetsu had left him all sorts of books dedicated to analysing the uses and weaknesses of Mokuton. It was fascinating to know that it could absorb Chakra. It could prove a useful skill to have, if he ever needed it that is. He had to come useful to his hosts. He had to have something to bargain with when the time came. Now that he was thinking, he remembered that Mokuton could capture tailed beasts and that was the usefulness he just thought about but could he truly do that? Turn on individuals who'd been victims of abuse and hatred in their own villages like he had been? Would he turn on Gaara? Was he truly going to become a monster for the Akatsuki, as if they needed any more monsters that is. But wouldn't they all be better off without the burden, the Jinchūriki that is?

He shook away the distracting thoughts; there was no turning back at this point. He despised this level of deep thinking, it made his head ache and drowsy. His path was cast in stone though, he had one last promise to fulfil; a promise he had made to himself. He returned to his previous thoughts. His studies had yielded much needed information with regards to his new bloodline limit. He understood that Mokuton was a combination of water-based and earth-based to produce malleable wood and trees but it was apparently more than that. To the simple mind, combining earth and water gave you mud and indeed to the logic-driven mind too. However in this case, with Chakra, you got Mokuton. It all traced back to Chakra, a special type of Chakra which was inhumane at best but full of life. Naruto remembered back to the valley, when he drew from such a source, nudging a small crack on the white plain humming with power when that figure appeared within his mindscape and grasped his head. He could still feel it even now, power, humming with so much life, life he felt selfish keeping at bay and not shared with the rest of the world. He was more alive than he had ever been, at spiritual and natural peace. It reminded him of the feeling of nature, the calm breath of the cool wind or the shade of trees within Konoha.

Naruto knew he had always had some kind of strong life-force, after all he healed faster than any living being in the face of the earth but now he felt as if he'd recovered a part of himself and now coursing through his veins, that life-force had tripled in thousands, vibrating, tingling his sensations whenever he felt for it. It was sort of addictive, overwhelming even for him but it felt at home, never out of stray or beyond his comprehension. He now knew that this life coursing through his veins, this life-giving power was what fertilised Mokuton. It was strange but that was the only way he could describe. The only way he could simplify it was that; he was full of overwhelming life. It made him forget his troubles, his failures every time he felt for it and basked within its warmth and he liked that about it.

The door to the small room rapped with beating knuckles, distracting him from his thoughts. He stowed away the Kunai and with a few long strides, he had the door open and unsurprisingly met the blank face of Konan. Naruto followed her out with so much as a word, already acclimatised to her jaded and indifferent behaviour. It was something he was learning not to bother much with trying to understand, but he knew something tragic could only mould a young woman like her into the type she was. Had he lived, Naruto believed Haku would have had the same look about him. He was better off dead then…

"Is it Pein this time?" he asked the woman striding carefully ahead of him with a slightly raised eyebrow. Naruto silently hoped not. He was not looking forward to another conversation with the studded man anytime soon.

The corridor crept with long, twisted shadows which rested against Naruto and Konan's faces but the blond could pick up the slight air of veiled disapproval from the stoic female's demeanour, however slight it was. It was strange. He had never bothered to read faces and expressions but he was persistently interested in Konan's. Perhaps it was because of the aloof manner in which she carried herself that he hoped to understand her or at least, how she thought. His better judgement argued it was better never knowing instead of persisting and opening up a can of rotten worms.

"No, it involves your training." Naruto's head snapped up faster than was acceptable. His eyes narrowed, staring at Konan's back. "Zetsu has returned." She declared softly.

Naruto felt relief wash through him even as a niggling fear crept into his heart. He dismissed the grim aura around Konan as he chewed on his thoughts. He had no idea what to expect but this was what he'd been awaiting the past couple of weeks.

Konan stared at the blond with through the corners of her dull eyes. They were not very far. The hall was just a few seconds away and she was already wondering whether this was all a mistake. She had never been one to question the doings of her male counterparts but she knew Pein, like her, had not expected what awaited them at the hall. She wondered how the youth behind her would react or even take to all this. She wondered why she was even worried about this strange boy. Perhaps it was all curiosity. She was curious about him, having been apprenticed to her own former master himself. He was not like her, or Yahiko or Nagato but he too was an orphan and she didn't trust him. It was the story of their Sannin mentor; Konan thought he had some sort of weakness for orphans. Them, Namikaze and then this boy. There was certainly a pattern but she couldn't argue he did it out of the kindness of his heart. Kindness…a rather strange concept. An idealistic one at best. The boy was apparently the same, however after this; she shuddered to think the broken look that would settle in his eyes. She knew all about what it felt like to fall over the deep end and into the drowning well of darkness.

They arrived to a giant hall strung with oil-lamps and two figures Naruto recognised to be Zetsu – with the silhouette of flytrap of course – and the spiky headed figure of Pein stood in the centre of the room while another was uncharacteristically crouched between the two men. Already Naruto could feel the palpability of cold grimness, an uninviting deathly air about the room and its occupants. Suddenly he wanted to turn back but his leaden legs were dragging him against his will to the scene. Zetsu – the white half – smiled and waved at him childishly. Pein was stern and impassive as usual, but with a colder gleam to his deathly eyes. The air around the duo was intense; despite White Zetsu's nonchalant antics Naruto knew something was amiss.

He and Konan stopped beside Pein, the blue-haired woman to the Rinnegan-bearer's right and Naruto to his right. Before them was a heavily sweating figure whose mere sight snatched away Naruto's breath. The Konoha-nin uniform complete with the flak jacket, the figure was bound in a thick rope of pale wood with a baggy dark mask over their head with both their knees to the ground. Naruto felt himself fill with dread at who could possibly be beneath the mask. He prayed it was not Kakashi.

"W-What's this?" Naruto asked with a worried whisper and just a tinge of disapproval behind his raspy voice. His throat felt dry all of a sudden, his lips pale and cracked and his face unnaturally pale.

"A deterrent." Pein merely said.

The blond looked toward Zetsu for elaboration. He couldn't accept that. There was something disturbing about Pein's whole demeanour, something murderous and deadly. An unforgiving gleam only a man intent on murder, a look only the vengeful harboured. "While we were away, we rummaged the leaf for the Hashirama's scrolls." White Zetsu began, "**This little bug happened to stumble upon us within the Hokage's tower going through the vault where are hidden the forbidden and sacred secrets of Konoha. We couldn't risk being exposed thus we took him**." Zetsu switched personas as his black half concluded with a grunt.

Naruto was worried, that wasn't the answer he wanted. He wanted to know who was veiled beneath the mask. "But won't that alert Konoha?" He found himself asking, now looking towards Pein.

"If Zetsu had left without taking care of this…mishap," Pein's eyes cut across to Zetsu who shrunk in on himself, "Konoha would trace the loss of sacred knowledge to us. That would then open up a lot of questions we can't afford to have Konoha asking." Naruto did not know whether it was annoyance he felt within the man's tone or not, however it was variable and the one thing constant was that his expression was the same.

"Then what are you going to do with him?" Naruto asked the burning question, gesturing easily with the shifting of his eyes to the bound-up figure. He was sure the man was not Kakashi now. His former Jōnin sensei had a distinctive smell about him, almost as if he bathed dogs on a regular basis.

Pein drew the mask off of the man's head, leaving and exposing the gasping, unmistakeable face of a very terrified Ebisu. Naruto felt relief wash through him at seeing it was truly not Kakashi but then again this was not any better. Ebisu was Konohamaru's sensei, albeit a useless one at that thus far. Pein got in the man's face, narrowed rippled eyes boring into Ebisu's own, "A bit of pain and he will take the secret with him to the grave. Naruto," Pein called out to the shocked youth whose head turned mechanically, his eyes meeting the man's own uncaring ones, "Kill this insect." He ordered.

Naruto's eyes widened and he felt his heart harden into ice and the cold grip of fear snatch his heart and settle contentedly at the gaping hole left behind. Ebisu's wide eyes stared at him with both shock and fear. Naruto could understand why. His glasses were nowhere in sight, his bandana lose and falling off his head. The man had paled; an almost unnatural ashen colour matching Naruto's own about him. A tag with runic seals and Kanji was slapped over his mouth, and Naruto thought it was better. He did not need for the life of him to hear what curses would leave the man's lips.

Pein's eyes lingered on him, watching every twist of his face and expression unsympathetically. Naruto's mouth hung open, opening and closing by the second. The blond could feel different sets of eyes boring into him, for differing reasons. There was fear and accusation in Ebisu's wide stare and expectation in Pein's, Konan's and even Zetsu's and in their expectant demeanour. Ebisu had always despised him. He was one of the many who saw him as nothing more than an annoyance to be tolerated. But that did not warrant killing him and thus faced with the demanding task of killing Ebisu to appease his new hosts, to prove his worth as he had wanted to, could he do it? And prove once and for all how right the people of Konoha were about him.

His jaws clenched and he swallowed a thick ball of spit. But then again, who would know. Who would ever find out if he did or not and did he even care if they did? This was the path he had chosen, he was walking on the edges of the road to hell. Naruto did not know how or why but his eyes hardened and a Kunai slipped into his hands, its metal gleam casting a deathly glow across Ebisu's downtrodden face. Konohamaru's face, the third Hokage's face slipped past him but he swallowed it all and sent it to the deep pits of his vault of guilt.

He set his heart to his mission, he couldn't fail again. Naruto closed himself off, sound becoming incoherent, his senses dimming as a chilling resolve filled him whole. It happened far too quickly for Naruto. No sooner had the Kunai fell into his right it had sliced through Ebisu's throat. His senses returned to him and he saw red, clambering over his arms and flying through the air in small drops, blurry to his still hazy eyes. He could hear sound, choked and otherwise disjointed. he looked at Ebisu; rasping fitful of air escaped his slit throat, spraying gurgled blood over the torso and edges of Naruto's cloak while the blond stood motionless, senseless and holding Ebisu's head by the hair, whispering a thousand apologies within his head until at last the soulful breath left the man's lips and he seized his struggle. Naruto's hand was tightened around a handful of Ebisu's hair in a tight grip.

He felt bare and naked as everything all came back to life. He shivered at his own callousness, letting go of Ebisu's head as if it was some frightening creature, the lax, lifeless form of the man meeting the hard ground with a dull thud. Naruto dropped to his knees, feeling queasy and disgusted by the coppery smell of blood and his own doing. He heaved and opened his mouth, expecting to spill his own guts if not yester-night's menu. However nothing came. Absolutely nothing. Thus he just remained there, balancing himself on his hands against the cold floor, trembling, suppressing the urge to scream out at himself, at Pein, at Zetsu for getting noticed and causing this upon him and at anyone who would care. He had just killed someone, not enticed or under the influence of a malevolent Bijuu but his own hidden evil.

Pein turned around and left the scene without another word, followed by Konan. This left only Zetsu and Naruto remaining within the large hall. The plant-like being regarded the boy with calculated eyes, a proud smile to his crooked lips, "**Well done, brother**." He spoke in that unnerving manner he did when he was alone with only him – Naruto. He came toward him and planted a firm, dark hand to the blonde's shoulder. Naruto looked up and was met with a compassionate or as compassionate a smile it could get from the plant-being, an understanding beyond words.

"I-I…k-killed him." Naruto murmured under his breath, his head crooked up and his eyes looking up at the standing Zetsu. "I…killed him." The blond reiterated with reality dawning on his face, the innocence about him lost and scattered with the winds.

Zetsu gave Naruto a nod, "**You did what was necessary**." He told the blond, "**no one should judge you for it**. **He would've done the same to you had he been in your situation**." He smiled at the kneeling blond, "**Killing is a choice we are all confronted with. We can't bear it but we have to make it if we are to accomplish whatever goals we may have.**"

"But how can this be right?" Naruto asked with a whisper to his self-proclaimed brother.

"**It isn't and that's why you're here, so no one has to do this anymore, Naruto.**" Zetsu, in his gruffer voice said wistfully, "**It was the foolish choices of one man that led to all this, but it can be your choices that put it all right and fix this mess.**" Naruto looked at him with confusion at those words, doing all he could to avert his eyes from the sprawled form of Ebisu which spawned a growing pool of blood.

"What do you mean?" Naruto found himself asking, anything to take his mind off what he had just done.

Zetsu frowned lightly, blinking his yellow, pupil-less eyes. Expectantly, White Zetsu had fallen silent same as the last time and the first time when they met at the valley. His expression hung rather strangely, almost as if he was petrified. "**Another time**." He looked around as if to emphasise the need for privacy when coming to that topic. "**Now go get some rest**." He dismissed the blond before picking up Ebisu's corpse by the leg, dragging it away to parts unknown, being swallowed by the darkness.

Naruto remained kneeling there, all alone, shivering. One question resonated within his mind. What had he done?

* * *

"He handled that very well I see." A figure melded out of the shadows of a room where stood a circle of throne-like stools, revealing the form of the masked-man.

"Far well than we could've imagined." Pein responded as the man sunk into one of the chairs, throwing one of his legs over another as he settled with an arrogant slump into the steel chair. "He is ready then I take it, for Zetsu's training."

"Of course. He was ready the moment he was brought here. This was necessary to break him apart." He admitted with a somewhat carefree demeanour about him, "Just that small nudge toward insanity." Madara said with a smile hooded underneath his mask, "we now possess the pieces to mend him in our image."

The two men fell silent, each lost to the flood of their own thoughts. "Rather uncanny of Zetsu to be discovered, by a Tokubetsu Jōnin no less." Pein suddenly, his gaze cutting to the man, "I suppose this was another one of your plans." It was glaringly not a question. Pein's impervious gaze returned to the uninteresting walls surrounding them as he awaited an answer from the man, his…partner.

Madara shed a sly smile under his mask, raising his hands in a placating manner. "Guilty as charged. But you cannot argue the reward was well worth the scheming." He said; his tone full of vain appraisal for himself.

Pein's eyes carved through Madara who merely rocked in his chair with clear nonchalance. The orange-haired man closed his eyes, "I suppose, but I do not like being kept in the dark, especially about something of this nature." There was not a trace of displeasure upon the man's pale, studded face. It was forever fixed in that same, sharp, uncaring disposition.

Madara chuckled mirthlessly, contradicting the slight frown pulling above his brows, hidden from Pein but the Rinnegan-bearer might as well have been seeing it. "Understood, partner." The masked-man breathed in deeply and let out an ecstatic groan.

Pein turned away. He was not one for smiling. What was he to smile about? He was a god, the harbinger of peace and the one individual who had toppled the single, most powerful tyrant in Shinobi history – Hanzō the Salamander. His vision for the world would soon be realised and he couldn't have gotten this far – even he would admit that – without the cunning of the man beside him. "And so it begins then…"

Madara stared toward Pein, a dark shadow falling over his lone visible eye. A glow of mesmerising red and a spin of three tomoe indicated the vindictive excitement the Sharingan-bearer felt. "So it begins, my friend."

* * *

Konan observed the pale, distraught boy before her with indifferent eyes and only the barest of frowns. Naruto had been quiet, quieter than Konan appreciated since the incident with the Leaf Jōnin the day before. He had a constantly fixed blank repose, the sheer impassivity and apathy of which managed to trouble even herself. She knew he had cried for days following the trauma of his battle with Sasuke Uchiha at the valley. She knew because she listened to him every time, murmuring in his sleep and tossing and turning with every second. Now, coldness lurked behind his cerulean blues, a sharp, twisted mark of chilling nonchalance. She wondered whether he had lost hope, or his heart or himself as most tend to do.

She did not care though; she only cared for Nagato and the realisation of his goals, Yahiko's dreams. Naruto was merely another sacrifice in that grand system, like all the others. The boy was a mere few feet from her, shirtless and doing press-ups like a man or rather, Jinchūriki possessed. She had long since given up on the count of the number of times in which he pulled himself up and pushed down. He was surprisingly well-built for one his age, and his whole form was red, as if his blood was in a rush. The sweat he had lost – and was still burning out – now formed an impressive, puddle now meandering across the stone flooring in spider-web like fashion.

She stood under the hood of the darkness provided by the room, away from the light of the candles and lamps strung across the room. It was wide and spacious, a training hall of sorts. It was the first thing the boy had asked of her when she went to summon him for supper. The result of that was Naruto going at it relentlessly for numerous hours non-stop. She wondered briefly if perhaps he was trying to burn away his troubles too. However she had never known anyone to push themselves this hard. Her sharp eyes could pick up the tremble in his developing muscles, or the red, strained veins pulsing through his upper body. So far he had not bothered with her or even objected to her. He just went on as if she wasn't even there, just invisible. The thought somehow disturbed Konan but she knew it to be true with her everyday life. She was just one of those people, without ambition, looking toward others, born to merely follow, invisible. It had never bothered her before and it wouldn't now however.

She sunk into the shadows and swivelled around on the soles of her heels and disappeared down descending stairs framed by a dark corridor lit by flame-holders. The mingling shadows would put most off – people preferred a very bright surrounding – but she basked in the comfort of the unspeaking and silent shadows. She wondered how the world would cope, if they were so conditioned to brightness, in Pein's world, devoid of light. It did not matter, they would either have to learn to swim or perish within the world sired by her friend's vision. She preferred her world less hopeful and dimmer.

She swept down one of the hundreds of corridors within the layer. Her chamber was not very far from the training hall she had left Naruto and a few floors below the Jinchūriki's own. She barely blinked as she went passed burning oiled lamps strung along the walls, calm with every turn of the corridor. She came up with a turn to a point where the corridor diverged, one going to the left – where only teemed darkness…and Madara – and another to the right and she took the right without hesitation. Her feet were soft against the hard, stone flooring. She arrived to an ascending stairway and slowly mounted it with soundless steps. She made it to an irregular, giant stone door and rapped her knuckles against it.

"Enter Konan." Answered a raspy voice from inside. She slipped into the room, which was large and wide, at the centre of which stood a walking machine supporting the figure of a crippled, cringingly skeletal and pinch-cheeked red-haired man. His stern outlook was contradictory to his pitiful state. His shoulder-length hair just hung down over his right eye and he wore nothing over his upper body. His purple-clothed lower half was submerged within the hold of the machine.

The woman's eyes and expression softened at the sight of the man, a caring countenance settling instead, sweeping away the tension and uncaring air about her. Nagato – her last friend. The only person in the world she understood and would die for. Whether he would do the same for her, she did not care. He was the herald of Yahiko's dreams and she was the bridge supporting his ambitions, their ambitions and his greatest most loyal servant, chained to his command by the thick chain of selfish friendship. She was never particularly happy though, about his alliance with Madara, she had always found the masked-man a shady character. Deep down within her mind, she wondered whether the man was indeed who he claimed to be.

She knew Pein had to have his own doubts although voice them he never did. Regardless of how, Pein it seemed thought it better to use the man – and let same man assume he was using Pein as well for his own nefarious scheme – to accomplish his ambitions. When the clash and conflict in both men's interests finally arose and it would eventually come very soon, she knew without a doubt whose side she would be on. She wondered on whose side Naruto would be. The thought made her frown and Nagato picked up on it.

Hard purple-sclera eyes with concentric circles firmed on her, questions already dancing within them. The man's Rinnegan appeared to be the only thing youthful and alive about him, except his shocking red hair. "What is troubling you, Konan?" he asked with his rasping voice much softer and considerate.

Konan looked up at him, standing directly before him. "The boy, do you trust him?" the question had been playing on her mind for weeks now and she had to ask. She had not asked because she didn't by then knew what to think of it herself. She always had a gut feeling about these sorts of things. She had been the one to warn 'them' those years ago of the baffling manner in which Hanzō had wished to meet them but Yahiko had not listened. Nagato listened to her back then, when he was still subdued and more like her to an extent, following more and leading less. She didn't trust Madara and she despised him as well, furtively or not and she had the same niggling feeling about Naruto, the Nine-tails Jinchūriki and a discovered Mokuton herald. They were in the company of dangerous people but Pein was not fazed.

The red-haired man stared at her with narrowed rippled purple eyes underneath raised eyebrows. "Trust?" He asked in a soft voice, the word leaving his lips with an odd whisper off ashen, cracked lips.

"Yes, his willingness to be a part of Akatsuki appears rather questionable."

He pressed his lips together into a thin line and grunted in thought. "You don't believe he is to be trusted then?" he questioned her, staring at her straight in the eye.

"Yes." She gave the brisk reply.

"I reckon he may be more inclined to be a much bigger part of this than anyone else. Trust is a strange concept to question when dealing with Akatsuki. I trust no one else, so does Madara and so does the boy." He took a deep breath through his nostrils as if speaking so frequently was a strain too great. He composed himself rather quickly and gathered as much pride about himself face as he could. "Betrayal is not an option; we will only smell it when we are at the cusp of glory. If either Naruto Uzumaki or Madara Uchiha betrays me, expectedly or not, they will die. But for now, we need them, their skills will prove useful when we the hunt begins." He admitted calmly and of course he was right.

He took her silence for agreement. "Get some rest; we go back to Amegakure tomorrow." Konan raised an eyebrow at his dismissive attitude. Her jaded heart broke each day at seeing him in such a state. She knew he hated it from her but she couldn't help but stare at him with those eyes, as if straining even a little would spawn more damage upon his weakened body, fatal damage that is. As Pein he was a god but now, before her, he was a man, a withered and impaired shell of her former, innocent friend. She would forever remain loyal to him, until she drew her very last breath but even she harboured that naïve hope that he would get better somehow. He had given up on himself but not on their dream, a dream they shared with their fallen friend. It was all that he had left, all that she knew kept him going despite his crippling injuries and all that kept her going too, serving him and being the friend that she is to him to help him realise Yahiko's dream. It was her, she constantly reminded him of his greatest burden and the promise he made to his friend. He was vulnerable somehow, even if he had Pein. It did not help that Madara knew and could just appear every time he wished with that insufferable, hex of Jutsu of his.

The cold black steel receivers lodged through his back made her cringe every time, Nagato lived with them every day, almost as if they weren't even there. As if they were just as much a part of him as the Rinnegan. Konan wished it would end very soon, so that at the end of it all, they too found some form of 'peace' amidst all that would be going on, amidst the crumbling Shinobi world.

She brought her eyes back to him; he had already shut his eyes, his hands resting on the arms of the walking machine. He barely made a sound despite his condition. That was how he slept after all. She switched off the lone, vase-like oil lamp within the room and disappeared into her own room to finally rest. A long journey awaited them in the morning.

* * *

**I've been gone for far too long hey. I'm glad I could be back to this story, it fits the kind of attitude I'm in right now. As I said, heartbreak if you are a 'TOWSH' fan because that story will pick up some dust as I focus on this story. I just don't have the strength to return to 'The One who Saw Hell' after I lost all my stuff, including the nearly completed next chapter of same story and the manuscript of my novel.**

**But I will bounce back, I always do. **

**Immortal out… **


End file.
